Taiwan’s National Central University announced that a Taiwanese scientific team has reached the icy Arctic region, and on the morning of May 29th, at 10:00 a.m. Norway time, they officially deposited the first batch of 170 precious millet seeds from Taiwan into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, marking an important milestone for Taiwan’s participation in international cooperation and sustainable development.
Flying nearly half the globe and trekking over 7,000 miles, the Taiwanese team participating in the “Taiwan Global Seed Vault Project” delivered the seeds to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The team members included Lee Chia-wei, Executive Director of The Plant Germplasm Conservation Center of Taiwan; Chen Shu, a researcher at the National Crop Germplasm Center of the Ministry of Agriculture; Chou Ching-yang, President of National Central University; Hsu Shu-kun, Dean of the College of Earth Sciences; Ni Chun-fa, Director of the Taiwan Polar Research Center; Chien Hua, Deputy Director; and representatives of the Paiwan indigenous tribe.
To celebrate the official deposit of Taiwan’s millet seeds into the vault, a simple ceremony was held at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Asmund Asdal, a representative from the Nordic Genetic Resource Center, introduced the functions and features of the seed vault and expressed gratitude to the Taiwanese team for providing the millet seeds. He emphasized that the seeds deposited were not a donation, and that the Global Seed Vault was merely storing them on behalf of Taiwan, stating that “Taiwan will always be the owner of these seeds.”
Lee Chia-wei explained that millet plays a crucial role in food security, nutrition, and sustainable agriculture. Not only can it adapt to dry environments, but it also has strong disease resistance and is rich in nutrients. Given the challenges posed by severe climate change to existing agricultural varieties, millet can thrive, making the preservation and cultivation of millet seeds vital for Taiwan’s culinary culture and agricultural development under climate change.
Chou Ching-yang stated that the safe storage of these precious Taiwanese seeds is essential for preserving global agricultural heritage and biodiversity. This milestone is not only significant for Taiwan’s agricultural and scientific communities but also represents an important step in global cooperation and sustainable development. He expressed gratitude to all the units that contributed to the process and hoped that the Taiwan Polar Research Center at National Central University would engage in more international collaborations to contribute to global warming research efforts.
During the deposit ceremony in the Arctic, three Paiwan indigenous representatives clad in traditional attire presented the seed boxes to the seed vault representatives, entrusting the symbolic millet seeds of prosperity and happiness to the faraway Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Chen Shu presented a thank you card to the Nordic Genetic Resource Center.
In addition to the 170 millet varieties deposited this year as part of the Taiwan Global Seed Vault Project, over 400 more millet varieties will be deposited in batches in the future. This mission not only ensures the conservation of Taiwan’s symbolic food crop, millet, in the face of potential global crises in the future but also aims to promote Taiwan’s research efforts in polar science, increasing Taiwan’s visibility in the international academic community.