Svalbard Global Seed Vault returns seeds to Syrian Gene Bank

In September 2015, 128 crates of seeds for a total of 38.000 species from ICARDA, the International Gene Bank of Syria, were returned from Svalbard Global Seed Vault on ICARDA's request. The seeds will now be sown at ICARDA's research stations in Lebanon and Morocco. The seeds will be recultivated immediately to provide farmers, scientists and developers new, freshly grown seed material. Future plans call for a minor lot to be returned to Svalbard for further long-term vault storage. This is the first time a gene bank has retrieved seeds from the seed vault.