India’s Seed Vault: at Chang La

India’s Seed Vault is located at Chang La (Ladakh) in the Himalayas, at a height of 17,300 feet, there is a storage facility with over 5,000 seed accessions. One accession consists of a set of seeds of one species collected from different locations or different populations.

The vault is a joint venture of the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (which comes under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research) and the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (under Defence Research and Development Organisation)

Note:

When a seed needs to be stored for few years, maintaining it at just 10 degree Celsius is enough. But in the long run, for 10 to 20 years, they need to be kept at a minus 15 to minus 20 degree Celsius (range). Chang La has a prevalent temperature in this sub-zero range.”