Leh
The Chang La seed bank is located at a height of 5360 metres above sea level at a distance of 75 km from Leh. It is the world’s highest research and development facility and also only the second permafrost seed bank in the world, after the International Seed Vault in Norway’s Svalbard. The plant germplasm storage facility was set up in 2010 by the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research in Leh, under the aegis of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Today, it boasts of more than 5000 samples of about 200 plant species.