Svalbard Global Seed Bank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault

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The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Norwegian: Svalbard globale frøhvelv) is a secure seedbank on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen near Longyearbyen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago, about 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) from the North Pole.

Conservationist Cary Fowler, in association with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), started the vault to preserve a wide variety of plant seeds that are duplicate samples, or "spare" copies, of seeds held in gene banks worldwide.

The seed vault is an attempt to insure against the loss of seeds in other genebanks during large-scale regional or global crises.
The seed vault is managed under terms spelled out in a tripartite agreement between the Norwegian government, the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT) and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen).

The Norwegian government entirely funded the vault's approximately NOK 45 million (US$9 million) construction.

Storing seeds in the vault is free to end users, with Norway and the Global Crop Diversity Trust paying for operational costs.
Primary funding for the Trust comes from such organisations as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and from various governments worldwide.
 

The seedbank is 120 metres (390 ft) inside a sandstone mountain on Spitsbergen Island.
Seeds are packaged in special four-ply packets and heat sealed to exclude moisture. The facility is managed by the Nordic Genetic Resource Center, though there are no permanent staff on-site.
 

Locally mined coal provides power for refrigeration units that further cool the seeds to the internationally recommended standard of −18 °C (−0.4 °F).
If the equipment fails, at least several weeks will elapse before the facility rises to the surrounding sandstone bedrock's temperature of −3 °C (27 °F).

A feasibility study prior to construction determined that the vault could, for hundreds of years, preserve most major food crops' seeds.
Some, including those of important grains, could survive far longer—possibly thousands of years.