Svalbard as scientific arena

Kunnskapsminister Øystein Djupedals tale til Ny-Ålesund symposiet i regi av Kings Bay, Svalbard, 02.03.06.

Distinguished guests!

It is an honour to present the great scientific opportunities that the high north offers, to the international scientific community. As the State Secretary from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs underlined in his speech, the high north is a priority area in Norwegian policy. It has been so for a long time, and its importance is growing.

Education and research are important elements of our strategy to secure sustainable use of natural resources. At the same time education and research are vital for innovation and development in the high north. As a polar nation our ambition is to take a leading role internationally in knowledge production for and in the high north.

The Barents Sea is regarded as being one of the cleanest and richest marine areas in the world. Norway, as well as other countries have an increasing interest in this area. In addition to its importance for fishing, both the Norwegian and Russian sectors of the Barents Sea contain oil and gas resources. As much as a quarter of the world’s undiscovered petroleum reserves may be located in the Arctic. For Norway, as an energy producing country, it is important to contribute to a stable energy supply on the world market.

There are great opportunities in the north, but also a number of challenges. The environment is vulnerable to influence from human activity. It is therefore very important that we reach an international understanding of, and agreement on, the common challenges we face in the north.

We have to make sure that increased activity in these areas, for instance as far as oil and gas exploration and transport are concerned, is based on sustainability and consideration of the environment. In order to achieve this we need more research based knowledge, new technologies and increased international cooperation.

Internasjonalisering av forskning, Norge som attraktiv partner

Internationalisation of research is a major priority in Norwegian research policy. International research cooperation is of vital importance to ensure the quality and renewal of our own research. Even more important, we need contributions from the international scientific community to secure an advanced knowledge base.

For a small knowledge-based society it is important to have close links with the best international research communities. We are therefore encouraging and supporting our scientists, research institutions and industry to take advantage of knowledge and technology developed abroad.

We are committed to make Norwegian research communities attractive partners. In my opinion Norway has a lot to offer when it comes to science and technology for and in the high north:

• We have long experience and good results in a number of technology and research areas like marine and maritime research, petroleum research, environmental research and polar research.
• We have a good infrastructure for research and development all over the country, including the northern parts.
• And finally, here on Svalbard, we can offer infrastructure and a geographical location that provides excellent research opportunities.

Myndighetene har lagt til rette for forskning på Svalbard

The polar regions offer unique possibilities for the observation and analysis of data that are very important for our understanding of basic natural mechanisms. These mechanisms influence processes such as the northern light, deep-sea currents, biological diversity and global change. Svalbard in particular, is a unique natural laboratory for the study of these phenomena. In addition Svalbard is a unique location for the study of geology, glaciers and many other fields. These aspects makes Svalbard scientifically interesting in its own right. What I find even more crucial, is how Svalbard functions as a scientific incubator for knowledge of global importance.

Svalbard is therefore a unique location and a unique research arena to beshared by us all. It is a common good. Svalbard’s unique position for research activities has been appreciated for a long time. This is illustrated by – among other things – its long history as a starting point for scientific expeditions in the polar regions. Here in Ny-Ålesund you can see the mooring mast used for Amundsen’s and Nobile’s Zeppelin expedition over the North pole in 1926. 2006 thus marks the expedition’s 80-years anniversary. Later I trust you will hear more about some of the fantastic expeditions that have started from Svalbard.

Over the last few decades there has been invested a lot of resources in developing Svalbard as a modern, international research arena. Svalbard has developed from an isolated community based on coal mining to a modern community with schools, kindergartens, hotels, restaurants, shops and well developed communications to the mainland. The Svalbard community now rests on three pillars:

• Coal mining,
• tourism
• and finally, but not least, education and research.

In order to maintain Svalbard as a sound research platform, Norway puts great emphasis on protecting the natural environment here. Our ambition is that Svalbard should have the best nature management regime in the world. 70 percent of Svalbard is now preserved as national parks, nature reserves or as other specially preserved areas. One important aspect of this policy is to maintain Svalbard as an unique laboratory of research. Ny-Ålesund, in particular, is protected for research purposes.

Hva finnes på Svalbard i dag?

Let me take you on a brief, guided tour through the international scientific community on Svalbard. This group of islands is presently hosting a large international research community. Substantial investments in research infrastructure have been made by us and by our international partners, the present accumulated investment being estimated at more than 2 billion Norwegian kroner, which is close to 250 million euros.

The existing facilities on Svalbard include;

• A fiber optical highway to the mainland. Svalbard enjoys excellent digital communications which is essential in modern international research cooperation. NASA has made an important contribution to this.
• The new Science Centre in Longyearbyen. A fantastic new building carefully planned to meet the requirements of modern research activities.
• Adjacent to the Science Centre is the University Center in Svalbard (called UNIS) which provides bachelor, master and PhD degree courses in all major polar research disciplines. All courses are taught in English, and UNIS has students from not less than 25 different countries.

• We are also building a new state of the art Auroral <Northern light> Observatory in Longyearbyen that will be opened in 2007.
• The EISCAT-radar (European Incoherent Scatter Radar) is situated outside Longyearbyen. EISCAT is an international science association formed in 1975. The current member countries are; Finland, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and China. Ukraine has announced its intention to join in 2008. The EISCAT radars are very powerful tools for the study of – among other things – what is known as solar wind. The EISCAT-measurements offer insight into the “Space Weather” which influences technological systems such as satellite navigation and long distance communication. In a highly technological world we need such space weather forecasts.
• The SvalSat ground station is also located in Longyearbyen and provides support for all the satellites passing the polar area. The station also supports data transfer to the rest of the world via the high-capacity optical fiber to the Norwegian mainland. To illustrate its importance, I can mention that the SvalSat is now the world's largest station serving polar orbiting meteorological satellites. Actually no other place in the world has better near-real-time-access to relevant satellite data. Daily more than 100 satellites pass over Svalbard, and they can provide valuable data for the science of the region. These data are by no means fully exploited. Among the users of the SvalSat and Tromsø stations are earth science or meteorological organisations in Europe, USA, India and China.
• Here at the Ny-Ålesund International Arctic Research and Monitoring Facility a number of countries have established research stations. Some of them on a full year basis with permanent staff and logistics, others have their stations manned only for certain periods a year according to their scientific work. Our aim is to develop Ny-Ålesund into the leading international environmental research and monitoring station in the Arctic.
• The Ny-Ålesund Science Managers Committee was established in 1994 to enhance cooperation and coordination of research activities in Ny-Ålesund. Its members represent research institutions in Germany, Italy, France, South-Korea, Japan, China, the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway – showing that Ny-Ålesund is indeed an international community.
• The Arctic Marine Laboratory in Ny-Ålesund was officially opened on the 1st of June 2005. It is an experimental laboratory for research in marine ecology, physiology, biochemistry, as well as some physical sciences like oceanography, marine geology and ice physics.
• Svalbard’s long scientific menu is not complete unless I also mention
• the Hornsund Polar Research Station which is run by the Polish Academy of Sciences
• • the Russian research facility at the Barentsburg Observatory
  • and finally, let me not forget, that a number of nations have research vessels dedicated to the Arctic seas.

Veien videre

To sum it up, the infrastructure on Svalbard is, to a large extent, in place. Still our objective is to further develop Svalbard as an international arena for research, both by making optimal use of its facilities and by upgrading the infrastructure.

The general research budget has been strengthened. Polar research is one of the prioritised areas, and in 2006 special priority is given to:

• the preparation of the International Polar Year
• more students, phd. positions and more equipment at UNIS - the University centre
• more equipment at the Artic Marine Laboratory
• economic support for researchers that do research on Svalbard. I want to increase the financial support for this further in future budgets in order to secure that the infrastructure is used by as many researchers as possible.
• and finally improved coordination of the research activities on Svalbard.

It is essential that the we ensure a good coordination of the research activities on Svalbard. Resources are limited and the natural environment is fragile. We should avoid duplication of activities. I have been told, probably somewhat exaggerated, that some local birds are ringmarked so many times that they look as if they came out of a jewellery shop. According to the same source, there is also an upper limit to how many radio markers a polar bear can carry around. In short, we should cooperate more and avoid unnecessary duplication.

We expect that the International Polar Year (IPY) will lead to increased activity here on Svalbard. Our ambition is to participate actively in the polar year. We trust that international co-ordinated efforts resulting in large research projects and extensive data collection will provide new scientific insights which will benefit policy development in many areas, and of course science itself.

As already mentioned, internationalisation is a priority in Norwegian research policy. Norway participates actively and as a full member of the EU framework programs on research and technology. The framework program is an important platform for our cooperation with our European partners also on Svalbard.

A prerequisite for financing from the EU framework programs is that the projects provide pan-European added value. Many research projects that are carried out on Svalbard are financed through the EU framework programs. This shows that polar research and research on Svalbard are regarded as highly relevant.

The international polar year and our participation in the EU framework programs are examples of multilateral research cooperation. In addition, we give emphasis to bilateral research cooperation.

One of the first things I did as minister of Education and Research was to sign a bilateral Research agreement with the United States. I would like to see that more research relevant for the high north will be one of the outcomes of this agreement. The Research Council of Norway on its part has its own agreement on polar research with the US National Science Foundation.

The Research Council of Norway also has an agreement on Science and Technology Cooperation in Arctic and North Research with the Russian Ministry of Science and Technology. Cooperation with Russia and Russian scientists is important for us, and we strengthened allocations to this agreement in the budget for 2006. In 2007 we will strengthen our support to science cooperation with Russia further.

Svalbard is a natural arena for cooperation between Russian and Norwegian researchers. It is important to link activities in the Russian settlement Barentsburg and activities in Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund. We would for example welcome Russia and Russian institutions as partners in the new Artic Marine Laboratory.

We also welcome investments and involvement in research and technology development from industry. I would like to mention that Conoco Phillips made a contribution to the Artic Marine Laboratory. An initiative I would like to see more industrial firms copy.

I am pleased that representatives from a number of different countries, organisations and institutions will be participating in our discussions tomorrow. This will secure a broad dialogue on issues of great importance globally, for the artic and for Svalbard. I am of course pleased that the need for new knowledge has such a prominent place on the agenda.

Thank you for your attention.