Junge, Heiko / NTB Scanpix / AFP | A man carries boxes of seeds into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) outside Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen, Norway, on March 1, 2016.

Norway on Saturday said it would boost protection of a seed storage vault designed to protect the world's crops from disaster, after soaring temperatures caused water to leak into its entrance.

Advertising Read more

Situated deep inside a mountain on a remote Arctic island in a Norwegian archipelago, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, dubbed the "doomsday" vault, is the largest of its kind and can store up to 2.5 billion seeds.

Freezing temperatures inside the vault keep the seeds, sealed in packages and stored on shelves, usable for a long period of time.

But in October 2016, the warmest year on record, melting permafrost caused water to leak in about 15 metres (49 feet) into the entrance of a 100 metres tunnel inside the vault.

The vault managers are now constructing a waterproof wall inside for additional protection, a Norwegian government spokeswoman told AFP, adding all heat sources would also be removed from inside the vault.

In our news section: statement on the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The seeds are safe and soundhttps://t.co/2U0unt3Q0y pic.twitter.com/urknLNFkJI — The Crop Trust (@CropTrust) May 20, 2017

"It's not good to have unnecessary heat inside" if water is coming in and permafrost is melting, Hege Njaa Aschim said.

"The water that leaked in had turned into ice... we had it removed," she said. Norwegian authorities are "taking this very seriously" and "following it continuously," she added.

There are 1,700 gene banks around the world that safeguard collections of food crops and many of these are exposed to natural disasters and wars, according to the Global Crop Diversity Trust.

"We have to listen to climate experts (and) we are prepared to do anything to protect the seed vault," Aschim said.

(AFP)

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe