Announcing Support to Back up Crop Collections in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Photo: Svalbard Global Seed Vault/Riccardo Gangale4 October 2021
Because seeds don’t last forever, not even in genebanks, the Crop Trust and partners will help genebanks and other seed collection holders in their efforts to regenerate and back up crop diversity collections in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
The Crop Trust, in coordination with its partners at NordGen and the Norwegian Ministry of Food and Agriculture, as well as the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty), are launching a competitive grant scheme to support the backing up of crop diversity in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
Grants are made possible under the newly announced Biodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods and Development (BOLD) project, a 10-year effort generously funded by the Government of Norway and led by the Crop Trust.
Grant recipients will receive technical and financial support from the Crop Trust for the regeneration, shipment and safety duplication of their collections in the Seed Vault.
This call is global and open to all crop collection holders in lower- and middle-income countries, including NGOs, community seedbanks, Indigenous organizations and university collections.
A minimum of 20 crop collections are expected to benefit from this opportunity. Applications will be evaluated by an expert panel.
Collections that need only support to cover shipping costs (and not for regeneration of seeds) can apply for a separate grant geared specifically towards this by reaching out to the Crop Trust directly.
The deadline for applications is now closed.
If you submitted an application and have a question, please contact BOLD_helpdesk@croptrust.org
Categories: BOLD, Genebanks, Svalbard Global Seed Vault