Restoring Crop Biodiversity through the Svalbard Global Seed Vault with Stefan Schmitz

Reset The Table

Stefan Schmitz, Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, joined GFSP director Caitlin Welsh on this episode of Reset the Table to consider the role of biodiversity in securing global food supplies amid climate change, conflict, and other ongoing crises, and the role of gene banks in protecting biodiversity. Mr. Schmitz describes a visit to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a facility in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, which safeguards millions of seed duplicates from thousands of gene banks around the world. Later, Mr. Schmitz and Ms. Welsh discuss how the Crop Trust’s operations address vulnerabilities in the global food system exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine War, and help protect agricultural biodiversity worldwide.