This week, the ministers of research in all EU countries signed an agreement on climate research. The document states that Svalbard will be given a key role in these plans. EU’s priorities will be more goal-oriented in the future, and better use of the climate research possibilities on Svalbard in is one of the initiatives.
Svalbard already has an important role in international climate research, and there are 20 nations represented on the archipelago, working on different climate projects. Bjørn Henrichsen in Norwegian Social Science Data Services says to NRK that the EU agreement is the international breakthrough for Svalbard. How much money EU is planning to spend on projects at Svalbard is not yet clear. It will be up to the different researchers to make good project applications.
Jan Gunnar Winther from the Norwegian Polar Institute believes the main topics for EU projects will be research on marine eco-systems, atmosphere and changes of the Svalbard glaciers. Winther says that this will give a historical boost for Svalbard research.
