What would humanity do for food in case of a global disaster, such as climate change or nuclear war?

Deep inside a mountain on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, in Norway, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, also known as the Doomsday Vault, stores seeds from more than 60 institutions and almost every country in the world aiming to ensure the survival of the world’s most precious plants and to preserve diversity.

No country is excluded, despite international tension, even North Korea has a deposit.

At more than 400 metres above sea level, there is little moisture in the air. And the vault is buried in permafrost, which means that it could stay frozen for 200 years in the event of a power cut, euronews reports.

The vault opened in 2008, and since then 860,000 samples of 4,000 different plant species from around the world have been deposited.

And it has already served its purpose, since in 2015, Syrian researchers retrieved their deposit from the vault so they could move and restore their seed bank, which had been damaged by war.

The Doomsday Vault is only unlocked for deposits, which happen three or four times a year. And security is very high. There are five doors with coded locks that anyone who wants to get into the vault has to pass through.

While security is important, Bente Naeverdal, manager of the Global Seed Vault, says crime is not really prolific in this part of the world: “We have all this alarm if someone is trying to break in or something, but that has never happened.