Arctic including Svalbard is in the centre of global warming it and is interconnected with the rest of the world. Good quality research is vital for achieving significant answers and knowledge to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Open and free science and international collaboration are essential to achieving research integrity. As such also Norwegian research is strongly enhanced through the international collaboration in Svalbard. Democracy restrictions will have a negative effect on scientific collaboration, promote inequality, and cause confrontation not only in the Svalbard research environment, but also in everyday life. Considering our efforts to improve science and enhance science diplomacy, we find this initiative and the message it sends to be alarming.

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