Deep inside the Arctic circle, on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, the Global Seed vault is hidden deep inside a mountain. It is sometimes called 'The Doomsday Vault”, because even in the worst scenario of a disaster to mankind it would preserve the diversity of the world's food crops and restore the plant kingdom. It was built to last around 200 years and withstand earthquakes and explosions. It was placed on the side of a mountain so even if all the ice on earth melts, it will still be above sea level. The vault contains 100 million seeds, a complete ‘backup’ of Earth's food-crop seed at the present time.

Policy is invalid here – even North Korea has frozen its seeds there. The first withdrawal from the vault was recently made by Syria in order to recreate an International Research Centre in Aleppo which was lost to war. It was used to store the genetic material of crops. Today these lost stores have become of vital importance in war-torn and drought-affected Syria.