Apocalyptic Tunnel

Tunnel The apocalypse has just been added 20,000 species of plants from 100 countries, in an effort to protect the world's biodiversity when disaster strikes the globe.

The Japanese must no longer have to fear the prospect of miso in the event of a disaster. The seeds of the main ingredient make up the delicious spice dish that is seated in the seedling bank called 'Apocalyptic tunnel' in the remote Arctic.

Different varieties of Japanese barley, used to make miso to beer, have been added to a warehouse of 800,000 different species, collected over the past 6 years and stored in the Svalbard Global Seed Tunnel. on the northernmost island of Norway. Of the 20,000 species imported this time, there are also rare red okra from Tennessee (USA), a Brazilian bean, 195 samples of wild potatoes and red tomatoes called 'Unger's Hungarian' of the United States.

Tunnel of Apocalypse is located deep in the mountain - (Photo: www.regjeringen.no)

The Independent quoted Marie Haga, CEO of the Global Crop Diversity Foundation, as saying that the newly added members have high biodiversity, collected from 100 countries around the world. Experts are currently trying to race against many different threats, both natural and man-made, that can destroy crops around the globe. The variety of plant varieties plays a crucial role for the future of human civilization.

Apocalyptic Tunnel, a $ 9 million construction cost, is designed to protect seedlings against these threats, which can be sustained in the event of a nuclear war, asteroids that attack Earth or time. extreme changes. Inside the gate was dug through the rock on the island near the North Pole, a 125m long tunnel that ran straight into the mountain. At the end of the tunnel are 4 layers of air-blocking doors, locked in 3 specimens. It has enough space to store up to 2 billion seeds at -18 degrees Celsius. Because the Apocalypse is built under thick ice, the specimen can still be well preserved in the event of a power outage.

The importance of the Apocalypse was proven after a disaster, namely the 2011 earthquake / tsunami disaster in Japan. Soon after, experts from Barley Biological Embryo Center (Okayama University) found that their seed-like banks did not seem safe enough when natural disasters occurred.'If something bad happens to our gene bank, these seedlings can be permanently destroyed' , according to Professor Kazuhiro Sato.

Therefore, in addition to multiplying 575 specimens, Japanese experts send samples to the Apocalypse in Norway.'Barley not only plays an important role for Japan but also affects the world food security. We need to do everything to ensure future generations still own these crops, ' Professor Sato said.