Potato varieties from the Andes will now be preserved for future generations in a seed vault in the Arctic. During a ceremony at the end of August, 750 potato seeds, as well as other wild potato relatives, were deposited by representatives of indigenous communities from Peru, scientists as well as FAO and Norwegian officials at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the world’s largest collection of crop diversity. “In a few decades, our planet's food systems will need to feed an additional 2 billion people”, said José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, who attended the ceremony. “Producing more - and more nutritious - food will be made all the more challenging as a result of climate change. Agricultural biodiversity, like that locked inside the potato seeds being deposited here, is essential to facing these challenges, by helping us develop better, more resilient crops.” The subterranean seed vault in the permafrost, 1300 kilometers beyond the Arctic Circle, currently holds over 860,000 seed samples from all over the world. The potato stems from the South American Andes, where farmers have bred over 2,000 varieties in different shapes and colours, ranging from white to deep purple. However, climate change and diseases pose a significant threat to the tuber, which is a staple food to more than a billion people worldwide. Many potato varieties have been lost in recent decades. In response, farmers and scientists have joined forces to reintroduce different potato varieties. The International Potato Centre in Peru, which holds the world’s largest potato crop collection, is partnering with local and regional initiatives to preserve the diversity of potatoes. Indigenous communities, farmers and organisations have created a Potato Park (Parque de la Papa) near the Peruvian city Cusco to maintain the cultivation of the hundreds of traditional potato varieties and keep the local knowledge of the plant alive. In order to preserve these plant genetic resources for future generations and protect them against natural or man-made disasters, the potato seeds were safely stored at a temperature of 18 degrees below zero. "These seeds, and The Potato Park farmers who are the innovators and leaders of their preservation, have been on a remarkable journey - travelling over 11,000 kilometres from the mountains of Peru to Svalbard,” said Alejandro Argumedes from non-profit organisation Association ANDES, who represented the Andean communities at the ceremony. (ab)