27 August 2015: Indigenous Andean communities managing the Potato Park, in Cusco, Peru, have deposited 750 potato seeds in the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway, to be safely stored for future generations. The seeds are the result of benefit-sharing projects supported by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR).

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a back-up facility in the permafrost far north of the Arctic Circle that currently holds over 860,000 food crop seeds from all over the world. Its operation is co-funded by the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the Government of Norway. In a ceremony held in late August, with the participation of José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and scientific experts and delegations from Costa Rica, Norway and Peru, deposits were made by representatives of the Andean communities from the Potato Park, as well as scientists from the Center for Agricultural Research at the University of Costa Rica, who deposited wild potato relatives. [FAO News Release] [Natural Resources Policy & Practice Story on the ITPGR and the Potato Park] [ITPGR Website] [Global Crop Diversity Trust Website]