Norway Will Upgrade its Doomsday Seed Vault Because of Climate Change

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For ten years now, Norway has invested money and resources in attempting to save the world in case of a catastrophic disaster, and the result is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

If, for example, we ruin the planet thanks to nuclear war or climate change driven natural disasters, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault will be on hand to help humanity weather the storm (provided enough of humanity is still around afterwards). The facility holds over a million different samples of seeds from plants found all over the world, the idea being that if any flora goes extinct, it can later be brought back by future botanists using these seeds.

This means that the world will never truly be rid of poison oak, but it also means that if an important crop is ever wiped out, we'll still have the resources to grow new ones safely locked away in an Arctic vault.

While the facility, nicknamed the "Doomsday Vault", already represents a sizable investment on the part of the Norwegian people (for which they may never properly receive the thanks they deserve), the country's government is now looking to throw another $13 million at the project in upgrades and improvements.

Last year, the vault, which exists on a remote island in the Arctic, suffered from a significant flood, which thankfully didn't contaminate any of the samples, but did force Norway to reconsider whether or not their creation is actually as apocalypse-proof as it's supposed to be.

The problem in large part comes from the fact that Arctic ice isn't exactly as permanent as it used to be, and when the entire island gets more sloshy, there's a danger that melted water can work its way into the vault and form cracks in the foundations. If the vault isn't actually capable of surviving a great degree of climate change, it's probably not going to prove useful in keeping its seed samples safe.