On The Edge Of The Atacama, Chile's Subterrenean Seedbank Stores Vital Species Frozen In Aluminum Pouches

VICUÑA, Chile — Vicuña, the birthplace of Chile's first Nobel laureate, writer Gabriela Mistral, is a dusty little town in the north of the country with colorful facades and cracked cobblestone squares. The breeze fans its streets, billowing curtains out across empty sidewalks, and street sellers shrink away from the oppressive desert heat, taking their jams and sugar-coated papaya slivers into the shade of covered markets.

A few miles outside of this small town, nestled in the Atacama Desert — one of the driest places on Earth — camouflaged against the reddish brown of a harsh rocky slope, is a research facility dug into the hillside, its hum of activity carried on the dry desert breeze. This is the Initihuasi Seed Bank, the mothership in a nationwide network of facilities which are preserving the biological record of Chile's flora under the strictest of conditions.

"The most important thing for a seed bank is to be away from large populations, because the idea is to save the seeds from catastrophes like wars, among other things," said Ana Sandoval, a researcher who has worked at the center for more than a decade. "That's why we're in a remote place, far from big cities, near a little town."

The thick concrete walls are earthquake-proof, and the seeds are stored in a walk-in freezer, kept at -4 degrees Fahrenheit and 15% humidity. They use aluminum pouches rather than glass vials in case of seismic activity.

EDIT

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/01/nx-s1-5647760/chile-seeds-climate-change-plants