Taiwan is to give samples of 170 millet species to the world’s “doomsday vault” in Svalbard, Norway, in case of extreme climate change, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
A Taiwanese delegation is to travel to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the arctic circle to deliver the samples, the ministry said at a joint news conference in Taipei with National Central University’s Taiwan Polar Institute.
The millet seeds — the first of a series of crop seeds to be sent — would serve as a backup genetic resource to Taiwan’s domestic seed bank, the ministry said.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
The project to preserve millet seeds at the Norway-owned genetic depository dubbed the “doomsday vault” marked a milestone in the nation’s efforts to promote international scientific cooperation and sustainable development, it said.
The vault is expected to receive the millet seed package on Wednesday next week, it said.
Millet is a staple for many indigenous Taiwanese cultures and features prominently in their rituals, said university president Jou Jing-yang (周景揚), who is expected to attend the event celebrating the seeds’ delivery.
The crop plays a key role in the nation’s food security and sustainable agriculture strategy against climate warming, Jou said.
Advances in technology and the economy would not change humanity’s need for food, said Lin Hsueh-shih (林學詩), director of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute.
The council of agriculture, the ministry’s predecessor, 31 years ago established a national seed bank to secure future generations’ food supply, Lin said, adding that the monthly electricity bill to operate it is NT$10 million (US$309,837).
In 2021, the UN named last year the International Year of Millets, recognizing that the staple’s resilience to droughts, floods and cold weather could be needed to deal with the implications of extreme climate change, he said.
Low water requirements, disease resistance, high nutritional value and not needing pesticides are among other qualities that make millet suitable for regions hard-struck by global warming, Lin said.
Making use of the seed bank in Norway means Taiwan would share the seeds with other nations in need, boosting sustainability globally, he added.
The Svalbard vault, which was built on Spitsbergen island in 2004, houses sample seeds for 4.5 million species of agricultural plants, the university said in a news release.
The island is the world’s northernmost permanent settlement, it added.
The vault, designed to survive an earthquake measuring 10 on the Richter scale and a nuclear explosion, is 2km from Taiwan’s artic station, it said.
Permafrost and modern facilities achieve cold storage at the seed bank, the university said.
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