Indian Seed Vault
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| Indian Seed Vault | |
|---|---|
  Location of Chang La in Ladakh  Indian Seed Vault (India) | |
| General information | |
| Type | Seed bank |
| Location | Himalaya, Chang La, Ladakh, India |
| Coordinates | 34°02′49″N 77°55′50″E / 34.04704°N 77.93054°E |
| Elevation | 17,300 feet |
| Opened | 2010 |
| Owner | Indian Government |
The Indian Seed Vault is a secure seed bank located in a high-altitude mountain pass on the Chang La in Ladakh, India. It was built in 2010 jointly by the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research and the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, and is the second largest seed bank in the world.[1]
In the late 1980s, the movement was initiated by the group of activists of Hemwal Valley of Tehri and led by a farmer and social activist Vijay Jardhari. ‘Beej Bachao Andolan’ (Save the Seeds Movement) was started from Jardhargaon of Tehri district, Uttarakhand.[2]
The Indian Seed Vault was established in 2010 through a collaboration between the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) and the 'National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) to secure India’s crop diversity in extreme environmental conditions.[3][4] It serves as a backup for more than 5,000 seed accessions.[5]