Announcing Support for Genebanks to Back-up Crop Collections in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault

A global call is now open to all crop collection holders in lower- and middle-income countries, including NGOs, community seedbanks, Indigenous organizations and university collections for receiving support for regeneration shipment and safety duplication of their collections in the Seed Vault.

All applications for the grant scheme must be received no later than 14.November 2021. A minimum of 20 genebanks are expected to benefit from this opportunity. Applications will be evaluated by an expert panel. For full instructions on how to apply, please see the Call for Proposals (https://www.croptrust.org/svalbard-grant-call-for-proposals/)

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 organizing the call.  Grants are made possible under the newly announced Biodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods and Development (BOLD) (The BOLD Project – Crop Trust) project, a 10-year effort generously funded by the Government of Norway and led by the Crop Trust.

Genebanks that need only the support needed to cover shipment costs can apply for a separate grant geared specifically towards this by reaching out to the Crop Trust directly.