The risk was highlighted recently when a research facility near Ukraine's national seed bank in Kharkiv was damaged during intense bombing by Russian forces. The Crop Trust, a non-profit organization associated with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, reported the incident but did not provide further details for security reasons. Only 4% of the seeds in Ukraine's seed bank, which is the tenth largest in the world, have been backed up, making it a close call. Seed banks act as a form of insurance for humanity by providing the necessary resources for developing new plant varieties that can resist various challenges such as drought, pests, diseases, and extreme temperatures. Stefan Schmitz, the executive director of Crop Trust, emphasized the importance of preserving Ukraine's seed bank, stating that its destruction would be a significant loss. Despite efforts to contact the seed bank director, Ukraine's academy of science's refusal to comment, and Russia's defence ministry's lack of response, researchers depend on the genetic diversity stored in seed banks to cultivate plants that can adapt to climate change and combat diseases. They have become increasingly crucial in ensuring sufficient food production each season to feed 7.9 billion people as the world's weather patterns become more extreme. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the third and fourth largest grain exporters in the world, has contributed to food price inflation and the risk of food scarcity. This has led to protests in developing nations that rely on Ukraine's grain exports. The war in Syria has underscored the importance of seed backup, with the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway acting as the world's largest and most significant seed duplication facility. Following the destruction of a seed bank near Aleppo in Syria, the Svalbard vault was able to provide replacement samples of wheat, barley, and dry region grasses to researchers in Lebanon in 2015. Overall, the Svalbard vault safeguards over a million seed samples in a facility located in an Arctic mountainside. These consist of 4% of Ukraine's 150,000 seeds, which represent more than 1,800 crops. The Crop Trust, based in Germany and the only international organization dedicated to preserving crop diversity, has provided funding to Ukraine for seed duplication. However, challenges related to security and logistics, compounded by the impacts of war and natural cycles, make it difficult to expedite the process. Schmitz, an expert, estimated that only about 10% of Ukraine's seeds could be successfully duplicated within a year, as they must be planted, grown, and harvested at the appropriate time before duplicates can be extracted and sent to Svalbard. As a last resort, the option of sending the entire collection to Svalbard without duplication has been considered, but Schmitz expressed concerns about the feasibility of this approach in times of war. The Syrian seeds originated from the Fertile Crescent, the region where settled farming is believed to have originated, highlighting Ukraine's significant role in agriculture. Grethe Helene Evjen, a senior adviser at the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food, mentioned that agriculture in Ukraine dates back to prehistoric times and highlighted the uniqueness of many of the country's seeds. She also stated that the ministry is prepared to assist Ukraine in replicating and preserving all of its seeds at Svalbard, but has not yet been approached by Ukrainian authorities for assistance.