Hardly anything grows on Svalbard. In this Arctic archipelago, the permafrost is 1,000ft deep, the nearest tree grows 600 miles to the south, and the sun does not rise for four months of the year. But it is on this frozen, barren outpost that the future of mankind's food supply depends. Today sees the inauguration of the Svalbard global seed vault, a top-security repository that will house batches of seeds from nearly every variety of food crop on the planet, such as wheat, rice or maize. The aim is to protect them in case of a global catastrophe. "It is the last line of defence against the extinction of our agricultural diversity," says Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Diversity Crop Trust (GDCT), the brain behind the project. "People are aware of the extinction of the dinosaurs, but they don't know that we are currently experiencing a mass extinction of our crop diversity." AFP: 'Doomsday' seed vault comes to life in Arctic. ABC News: Inside a 'Living Fort Knox,' Built to Protect Plant Seeds. AFP: `Doomsday' Vault Opens to Protect Seeds. EDIE.net: The Svalbard vault will be used as a seed library of last resort. Associated Press: Arctic Vault for Seeds to Open. CNN: Seed vault to open in Norway [+ Video]. BBC: Life in the cold store. Aftenposten: Seed vault opens in the Arctic. Global Research / The People's Voice: "DOOMSDAY SEED VAULT" IN THE ARCTIC: BILL GATES, ROCKEFELLER AND THE GMO GIANTS KNOW SOMETHING WE DON’T. ETC Group: Svalbard's Doomsday Vault. PHOTO GALLERY