'Frozen garden of Eden' seed vault blooms in Arctic

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2008

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway (AFP) — A vault carved into the Arctic permafrost and filled with samples of the world's most important seeds was inaugurated Tuesday, providing a Noah's Ark of food crops in the event of a global catastrophe.

"This is a frozen garden of Eden," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the opening ceremony.

Aimed at safeguarding biodiversity in the face of climate change, wars and other natural and man-made disasters, the new seed bank has the capacity to hold up to 4.5 million batches, or twice the number of crop varieties believed to exist in the world today.

In sub-freezing temperatures, Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg inaugurated the...