The €50,000 Princess of Asturias Award will help genebanks safeguard at-risk crop diversity, preserving valuable genetic resources for future plant breeding and food security.
The three partners responsible for the Svalbard Global Seed Vault will direct €50,000 in prize money from the 2026 Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation toward protecting vulnerable seed collections.
The Government of Norway, the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen) and the Crop Trust announced that the funding will support the Emergency Reserve for Genebanks, helping eligible genebanks prepare and deposit safety duplicates of critical seed collections in Svalbard.
The initiative will prioritize collections that might otherwise remain unprotected because of limited resources, according to a press release.
“This award recognizes an extraordinary international effort to safeguard the crop diversity on which our future food security depends. By directing the prize money toward collections that still need protection, we are extending that spirit of cooperation and helping ensure that valuable seeds remain secure for future generations,” said Nils Kristen Sandtrøen, Norway’s Minister of Agriculture and Food.
Opened in 2008, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault provides long-term backup storage for seed collections held in genebanks worldwide. Located inside a mountain on Norway’s Spitsbergen island, the facility helps protect crop diversity against natural disasters, conflict, equipment failures and other threats.
Protecting Genetic Resources for Future Breeding
The Emergency Reserve, jointly administered by the Crop Trust and the Secretariat of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, has already supported efforts to protect threatened collections.
In Guatemala, emergency funding helped restore damaged cold storage facilities and enabled the country’s first Svalbard deposit in February 2026, safeguarding more than 930 seed samples, including maize and beans.
In Ukraine, the Reserve has supported efforts to relocate and secure the country’s threatened national seed collection, including assistance for a new facility.
“Crop diversity is a shared resource, and its loss anywhere diminishes the options available to farmers and breeders everywhere,” said Kent Nnadozie, Secretary of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
As climate change, pests and diseases create new challenges for agriculture, preserving genetic diversity remains essential for developing resilient crop varieties.
The award funding will help ensure that valuable seed collections remain available to researchers and plant breeders, supporting future crop improvement and global food security.
