La Jornada: The Princess of Asturias of International Cooperation, to the Global Seed Vault

Madrid. In the heart of the Arctic, with usual temperatures below 12 degrees below zero, there is an armored concrete box and a sophisticated system of technology and luminosity that preserves one of humanity’s greatest treasures: the seeds that sprout from the earth. It is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, promoted by Norway, and in its cubicles, organized with zeal and meticulousness as if it were the best university library, the most diverse grains of corn, chili peppers, tomatoes, potatoes or wheat are stored, which, in the case of a “natural disaster”, will prevent these species from dying and will give them the possibility of regenerating. Hence it has been chosen to become the Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation 2026.

The jury, made up of social researchers and scientists, highlighted in the minutes with which they justified the election that the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a “bank located under the soil of the Arctic, created to safeguard crop diversity in case of losses due to natural disasters, human conflicts or other circumstances.” They explained that, “led by Norway and driven by a model of effective multilateralism, the vault brings together the collaboration of numerous countries, scientific institutions and international organizations around the common goal of guaranteeing the genetic basis of food systems and the knowledge accumulated over millennia by different agrarian cultures around the planet.

“With more than 1.3 million samples representing thousands of varieties of arable plants, essential for the food security of humanity, the jury has valued the silent cooperation of this critical and strategic infrastructure as a legacy for future generations.”

One million 300 thousand samples

In the world there are projects similar to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, such as the one in Ecuador, one of the most diverse in the world, but what they have created in the Norwegian Arctic is unique, singular, hence they have managed to store, with the sole purpose of safeguarding that seed, more than one million 300 thousand samples that come from all over the planet. And these samples have been arriving over time, either for fear that this type of fruit or vegetable will stop being cultivated or simply to have a seed that guarantees its durability. That is why in this futuristic building surrounded by snow and ice there are practically all the species of corn seeds, even those that have stopped being cultivated in most of the countries where it is commonly consumed. Or the types of chili peppers that have existed throughout history. Or the more than 10 thousand varieties of tomatoes in the world. Or garlic, onions, wheat, potatoes, semolina or chickpeas.

Upon hearing the news, Norway’s Minister of Agriculture and Food, Nils Kristen Sandtrøen, thanked the award “on behalf of the Norwegian government and on behalf of our partners Crop Trust and NordGen. Together we are responsible for the operations of the seed vault, and have funded it since its creation almost 20 years ago. Together with more than 130 donors from around the world, we have ensured the conservation of up to 1.3 million seed samples from our crops most important food products for the future. This award is an important recognition of the international and intergovernmental cooperation that has made it possible.”

The building that houses this treasure of humanity is an underground seed bank located on the island of Spitsbergen, in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. It was inaugurated in 2008, with an area of ​​more than a thousand square meters, spread across three warehouses. The vault also has an international advisory panel that supervises its management, made up of members of the depositing gene banks. The collection of seeds is carried out free of charge and these are the undisputed property of the depositor germplasm bank, which is, furthermore, the only one that can request their return. Of the seeds it saves, there are around 6,300 species of plants – most of them varieties of rice, wheat and barley – belonging to 129 depositing institutions and governments. Other crops represented are sorghum, bean species Phaseoluscorn, cowpea, soybean, kikuyu and chickpea.

The vault has already shown its usefulness and relevance: in 2015, with the escalation of war in Syria, it was forced to evacuate its headquarters in Aleppo; In its seed bank, which was devastated, there were 150 thousand samples of cereals, food and feed from more than 100 countries. A significant portion of this collection had been secured through duplication and storage in the Svalbard vault. And it could be withdrawn starting at the end of that year – with a second phase in 2017 – to be planted in Lebanon and Morocco and return a copy to the crypt of the Norwegian archipelago.

The International Cooperation award is the fourth of the eight Princess of Asturias Awards awarded this year.