So called "doomsday vault" has been constructed deep inside Spitsbergen. Purpose: to hold and save vital crop seeds in case of future doomsday-like event, call it thermonuclear war, an asteroid collision or any other event that might destroy seeds on which our future is based.

The project is sponsored by the government of Norway which subsidises $9 million to create a vault 120m deep inside the rock-solid geological structure of Svalbard, part of which is the Spitsbergen.

The vault will be equipped with dual blast-proof doors, motion sensors, airlocks and walls of steel-reinforced one meter thick! This unquestionably shows that we have something serious here and not yet another survival or cult group play of "buy cans, a gun and hide in the mountains" sort. Apparently not only single units or groups of people believe that something catastrophic may well happen in the future. Even governments seem to take it on a level that by far crosses the typical country preparations for war like: creating fuel reserves, food supplies, shelters, emergency procedures etc. This vault is run by Norwegians but it's meant to be international as all countries willing to participate will be allowed to donate samples of crop seeds that they think are worth securing. And this thing is supposed to hold them safely in an unimagineable timeframe of up to one thousand years! Well, apparently mankind and thus their highly positioned representatives think we are still able and capable of hurting ourselves so much that a catastrophic scenario of extinction can not be ruled out.