Prepared for “Doomsday”? The Norwegians are, as they opened up the futuristic version of Noah’s Ark on Thursday, to inaugurate the vault that one day could prevent a natural or provoked catastrophe from destroying valuable species of plants.

The genetic material will be stored in the Arctic island of Svalbard as property of the Norwegian state, but it is designed to function like any bank, and allow other countries to deposit seeds and use them free of charge.

Thousands of seeds have already been deposited in the vault as of Thursday, and many more will follow, from all corners of the world. What is amazing about the vault is that it is designed to resist to anything from intense earthquakes to a nuclear hit or even an asteroid strike.

On a more “positive” note, this could also ensure the plants’ survival in unusual conditions, such as global warming, and enable their adaptation to unusual conditions. Extinction of plants could prove disastrous for the entire humanity, as it would significantly reduce food supply at all levels, including for animals.

The genetic bank has a monitoring system that controls the conditions inside the vault, mainly the cooling system. Specialists believe the seeds could resist up to 1,000 years if the temperature remains constant, -0.4 degrees Celsius.

 “Crop diversity will soon prove to be our most potent and indispensable resource for addressing climate change, water and energy supply constrains, and for meeting the food needs of a growing population,” said Cary Fowler, Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust.

So far, 268,000 samples of seeds have been put inside the vault, each of the samples containing in turn hundreds of seeds. “With climate change and other forces threatening the diversity of life that sustains out planet, Norway is proud to be playing a central role in creating a facility capable of protecting what are not just seeds, but the fundamental building blocks of human civilization,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

Image credits: Global Crop Diversity Trust