<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Website </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Official website </Td> </Tr> <P> The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Norwegian: Svalbard globale frøhvelv) is a secure seed bank on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen near Longyearbyen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago, about 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) from the North Pole . Conservationist Cary Fowler, in association with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), started the vault to preserve a wide variety of plant seeds that are duplicate samples, or "spare" copies, of seeds held in gene banks worldwide . The seed vault is an attempt to ensure against the loss of seeds in other genebanks during large - scale regional or global crises . The seed vault is managed under terms spelled out in a tripartite agreement between the Norwegian government, the Crop Trust and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen). </P> <P> The Norwegian government entirely funded the vault's approximately 45 million kr (US $8.8 million in 2008) construction . Storing seeds in the vault is free to end users, with Norway and the Crop Trust paying for operational costs . Primary funding for the Trust comes from organisations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and from various governments worldwide . </P>

What is the full name of the global seed vault