Today sees the inauguration of the Svalbard global seed vault, a top-security repository that will house batches of seeds from nearly every variety of food crop on the planet, such as wheat, rice or maize. The aim is to protect them in case of a global catastrophe. “It is the last line of defence against the extinction of our agricultural diversity,” says Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Diversity Crop Trust (GDCT), the brain behind the project. “People are aware of the extinction of the dinosaurs, but they don’t know that we are currently experiencing a mass extinction of our crop diversity.”

According to Fowler, maintaining agricultural diversity is essential to protect our food supply. “We need [it] to help farmers and to help agriculture adapt to climate change, pests and diseases, droughts, and whatever demands we’re going to have make of agriculture, including feeding more people.”

Full Story: Guardian.