A new report about recent cli­ma­tic chan­ges in the Arc­tic has been published by NOAA (Natio­nal Ocea­nic and Atmo­sphe­ric Admi­nis­tra­ti­on). Click here for the report.
 
The beha­viour of sin­gle gla­ciers can­not be used direct­ly as an indi­ca­tor for cli­ma­te chan­ge, but the retre­at of Mona­co­b­reen in Spits­ber­gen is impres­si­ve and no more or less dra­ma­tic than that of other gla­ciers. The island in the fore­ground was under the ice of the gla­cier that can be seen in the midd­le of the pic­tu­re until no more than a few years ago. 

Source: NOAA

So far, the­re is no pass con­trol for tra­vel­lers from Nor­way to Lon­gye­ar­by­en (or vice ver­sa). This will pro­ba­b­ly chan­ge, as Nor­way is part of the Schen­gen trea­ty, but Sval­bard is not. 

Source: Sys­sel­man­nen

The public hea­ring pro­cess for the cur­rent pro­po­sal for new regu­la­ti­ons for ship-based orga­ni­zed tou­rism in the natu­re reser­ves in Eas­tern Sval­bard has been ope­ned on Octo­ber 10 (for some more details on the pro­po­sal, scroll down to April news or click here). The hea­ring will be going on until Decem­ber 10. Should the cur­rent pro­po­sal come into force, then the fle­xi­bi­li­ty of expe­di­ti­on ships in the are­as in ques­ti­on (the com­ple­te eas­tern part of the Sval­bard archi­pe­la­go) would be signi­fi­cant­ly redu­ced. The pro­po­sal is con­tro­ver­si­al. The law will not be pas­sed befo­re the Nor­we­gi­an par­lia­ment (Stort­in­get) has issued a new white paper on Sval­bard in spring 2009.

The issue was dis­cus­sed during a con­fe­rence of Expe­di­ti­on Lea­ders who work with ship-based tou­rism in Sval­bard and other polar regi­ons in Lon­gye­ar­by­en, Octo­ber 07 and 08. The result is a let­ter to the Nor­we­gi­an admi­nis­tra­ti­on that addres­ses weak­ne­s­ses of the cur­rent pro­po­sal and points out alter­na­ti­ves. 

Source: Sys­sel­man­nen, AECO-Expe­di­ti­on Lea­der con­fe­rence in Lon­gye­ar­by­en Okto­ber 06-08, 2008