Housing is another important issue in Longyearbyen. The housing market is difficult, and individuals without strong economics experience serious difficulties when trying to find a place to live. In contrast to elsewhere, you can’t just move a couple of miles out of town and commute by bus. Major employers own living space to make sure their employees can actually live in Longyearbyen.
Housebuilding in central location in Elvesletta, Longyearbyen.
Many of Longyearbyen’s larger employers are public, either directly or indirectly. That includes Sysselmester, the local administration (including school, kindergarten, hospital, …), Store Norske (the mining company), UNIS etc. Some of them own housing space, and in other cases flats are owned and administered by Statsbygg, a public authority that does exactly that: owning, running and developing property on behalf of the government for public institutions and state-owned companies.
Statsbygg does already have a major number of flats in Longyearbyen. This number is now to grow significantly: as Svalbardposten wrote, Statsbygg will invest 173 millionen kroner (currently slightly under 15 million Euro) in housing spaces. The whole block of Elvesletta 2 and 3, which is currently under construction, is concerned, with a total of 27 flats.
In return, Statsbygg will release an equivalent number of flats that are owned by Store Norske. In contrast to Statsbygg, Store Norske can offer them to everybody on the housing market, including private individuals. But also Store Norske is owned by the government, which can thus control who can live in Longyearbyen and who can not live there.
Visitors to Longyearbyen will quickly get the impression that the place is growing madly by means of the large construction sites. But this impression is misleading, because a large number of flats were also lost during and after the catastrophic avalanche of 2015. This loss of living space is obviously less apparent.
The new double calendar “Spitsbergen & Norway 2024” is available! 24 pages for the new year, a double calendar – photographic beauty of northern landscapes, wildlife and flowers on the wall, changing every months (twice if you want) throughout the year 😃
“Double calendar” means that both sides of each page are used. You can turn the calendar around to the other image. The calendar is available in two sizes, large (A3) and small (A5). And if you order more than one per size, then the price will drop by 3 Euro per copy 🤩 Christmas is not far anymore – the ideal present for all arctic enthusiasts! 🎄🎅🎁 as long as stocks last!
Click here for more information including views of all pages and ordering.
There was a major outbreak of avian flu, also known as bird flu, on the remote island Hopen in southeast Svalbard, as Norwegian Polar Institute Hallvard Strøm told the Norwegian media platform NRK. Several thousand birds are believed to have died on Hopen from avian flu, mainly kittiwakes.
Cliffs with major bird colonies on Hopen.
There have been similar, even larger outbreaks of avian flue in seabird colonies in north Norway. In some cases, the losses were dramatic and major fractions of the colonies were wiped out. In Spitsbergen, avian flu was found for the first time in 2002, but the recent outbreak on Hopen is the largest one so far.
All votes from Monday’s local elections are counted and the result is official. The community council (Lokalstyre), established in 2002, has 15 seats, and according to the official result, the party “Venstre” will have 7 of them. Hence, Venstre will most likely lead the new Lokalstyre and appoint the mayor. Venstre (“Left”) is a social liberal party.
Longyearbyen Lokalstyre: the new community council was elected on Monday
– for the first time, under exclusion of non-Norwegian locals.
As a result, for the first time in the history of Lokalstyre, the social democratic Arbeiderparti (Labour party) will not appoint the mayor anymore. Arbeiderpartiet will have 3 seats in the new community council. The left-social-democratic Sosialistisk Venstreparti will also have 3 seats, while the conservative Høyre (“Right”) will have 2.
1420 persons were eligible to vote, and 808 made of of this right, resulting in a voter turnout of 56.9 %. During the previous elections, there were 1823 eligible voters, but several hundred locals with passports other than Norwegian have lost their voting rights due to the new regulations. Some Norwegian voters had announced to not vote or to submit invalid ballot papers, of which there were 54.
Zur heutigen Kommunalwahl in Longyearbyen, bei der etwa ein Drittel der früher Stimmberechtigten ihr Stimmrecht aufgrund der Nationalität verloren hat, gab die Gruppe “unwanted foreigners” folgende Pressemeldung heraus (deutsche Übersetzung vom Inhaber dieser Seite). Sie bezieht sich auf eine Ausstellung in der unmittelbaren Umgebung des Wahllokals, bei der die nicht mehr demokratisch repräsentierten Bürgerinnen und Bürger Longyearbyens ihren Fußabdruck in der Gesellschaft symbolisch sichtbar machen wollen.
Today, Longyearbyen votes a new local council, but about one third of the former voters have lost their voting rights because they are foreigners. The group “unwanted foreigners” have issued the following text as a press release (English translation from Norwegian by the owner of this website).
Local elections in Longyearbyen today – a painful day for non-Norwegian citizens. They have lost their voting rights.
During earlier local elections, non-Norwegian citizens could vote as soon as they had lived in Longyearbyen for at least three years – just as in mainland Norway.
With the new regulations, most of them have lost their democratic rights.
Today, local elections are being held in Longyearbyen – many locals who have lived in Longyearbyen and contributed to the community and economy for years are now excluded. They are represented in silence, as appropriate for those who have lost their voice
Here are some of their footprints in the community of Longyearbyen:
9 years on the island. Have a Norwegian company with 5 employees
Local for 15 years – I have voting rights in Trondheim but no longer here!
19 years on Svalbards. Will rescue you from a snow avalanche
21 years in Longyearbyen. Elected member of the local council
Owner of a company and member of the guide association
3 years in Longyearbyen. Scandinavian citizen. :o(
4 years in Longyearbyen – local guide
Will rescue you from a crevasse
Have never before felt that it was „you“ and „us“ before
8 years on the island. Will repair your clothes. Own a Norwegian company with 3 employees
We are Longyearbyen
I will make sure that you have a good dinner after your marathon
Grew up in Longyearbyen. Have learnt Norwegian values at school
Stood for the elections last time. 16 years Svalbard. Oslo thinks that I know less about Svalbards politics than a fresh graduate of Svalbard folkehøgskole
Sámi, women, foreigners – we have been through all of that. Voting rights for everybody!
20 years in Longyearbyen – worked for UNIS, NP, science council
3 years on the island with my family – working in customer service and voluntarily
20 years on Svalbard. 20 years in local companies. Love Longyearbyen and the people who live here. Voting rights for everybody
Grew up in Longyearbyen. Went to Norwegian school in Longyearbyen. Speak Norwegian well. But not a part of this community
12 years for no say
Norwegian guy – 9 years in Longyearbyen. No point in voting anymore
7 years on the island. Run a recycling workshop as a volunteer, lead Svalbard Guide Association & work as a guide year round. Worked for UNIS
Volunteer since 2017. Cleaned Svalbard from plastic, Red Cross, Svalbard sports club
5,5 years on the island. Contributed to the local community, now considered worthless
12 years on the island – washing your house
7 years on Svalbard – Svalbard – guide + local business owner – working with 15 local companies + others on mainland. Contributing directly into the Norwegian economy… but we still don’t really count?
7 years on Svalbard – guide + logistics manager Polar X – previously voted! We make the documentaries that influence the world’s view of Svalbard + our wildlife … but we’re not important enough to influence our local politics
Who else is gonna have the patience to serve Norwegians their drinks…
Longyearbyen is my home
10 years on Svalbard – Only here doing critical work for the state! I have friends who died! for the right to vote. Norway is no better than Russia
8 years on Svalbard. 2.5 years on mainland. PROUD CANADIAN. Essential worker 4 Norway. Your ‘democracy’ is a joke… our lives are not. Shame on you
29 years on Svalbard. I felt welcome when I came here then
11 years of science and teaching arctic ecology
Democracy is a thing to stand for
It meant something to contribute to the renovation of Nordenskioldhytta during the pandemic
Mine worker
Svalbard: cornerstone of my life in 26 years. And now suddenly second class citizen
1 year on the island. UNIS student and member of the guide association
6 years on the island. Can rescue you from a snow avalanche
It gives me pleasure to contribute to the development of Longyearbyen after the coal age
12 years on the island and could vote previously. In 17 years, my son can vote, hopefully together with me
Proudness is best in community, not nationality
Christiane Hübner and Wolfgang Hübner-Zach also lost their voting rights and initiated the exhibition. The quotations are from locals who are now left without voting rights.
Today (Monday, 09 October) local elections are held in Longyearbyen: for the 8th time since local democracy was established in Longyearbyen in 2002, eligible voters can decide on Longyearbyen’s political development.
Longyearbyen Lokalstyre: local elections are held today, 09 October – for the first time excluding foreign locals.
For a start, the local elections are about local politics as usual: traffic within and outside of Longyearbyen, health including animal health, the housing market, port development, economy, culture, school, energy, environment. Such things.
But next to all of that, the elections themselves have become an issue. As reported previously, Norwegian minister of justice Emilie Mehl (Senterparti) has by decree dispossessed foreigners of their active and passive voting rights: locals with non-Norwegian passports can only vote or run for office if they have spent at least three years in a community on the Norwegian mainland and if they have moved directly from there to Longyearbyen. There are those who have lived in mainland Norway for more than three years and now live in Longyearbyen but who have lost there voting rights because they have lived elsewhere between mainland Norway and Longyearbyen. “Elsewhere” may even be Ny-Ålesund, a place where the Norwegian flagg is flown with pride. There is at least one such case.
The new voting system did come by decree and not by low, which means that it has not been discussed by the Norwegian parliament (Storting).
All four parties that now contest in Longyearbyen want this to be discussed again on a national level, and at least two out of these four want the decree to be rolled back. But it is the government in Oslo who decides on this. The fifth locally active party, the Norwegian green party (Miljøparti de Grønne, MdG) withdrew from the current elections because they do not have enough condidates without their non-Norwegian members.
Concerned foreigners have joint forces at least loosely under the group name “unwanted foreigners”, trying to get seen and heard on a political level. There are several hundred of them, something near one third of those who were eligible to vote on previous occasions. Many of them have been living in Longyearbyen for many years, some grew up there and some have children who visit kindergarten and school there now. Pretty much all of them feel like second-class citizens now.
The news section on this website has been a bit neglected the last couple of months. This is about to change now, as the travelling season is over, during which there was a clear focus on the travel blog, for obvious reasons.
Let’s start with a little article about an interesting discovery within botany, which seems harmless but nevertheless has a bit of an unpleasant tatse to it. Cloudberries were found in Colesdalen, about 20 km southwest of Longyearbyen – with fruits. The remarkable discovery was made by Stein Tore Pedersen from Longyearbyen, who was there on a private tour, as the Norwegian Polar Institute wrote.
Colesdalen. It is safe to assume that there are cloudberry plants somewhere in this photo 🙂.
The fruits of the cloudberry are rich in vitamines and well known from mainland Scandinavia, where they are very popular. In Spitsbergen, cloudberries were found for the first time around 1908 by botanist Hanna Resvoll-Dieset, but this is now the first time that hard evidence for fruits could be secured. There are stories about earlier finds of cloudberry fruits, but in those cases, the evidence was quickly eaten by the finder. Something that is, by the way, not allowed: in Spitsbergen, all vegetation is generally protected and no plants or parts of plants may be collected. This includes cloudberry fruits. Only mushrooms and seaweed may be collected.
It is assumed that this first discovery of cloudberry fruits is connected to the record-warm temperatures of large parts of the last summer and thus to climate change, which is faster in large parts of the polar areas than elsewhere in the world.
Danskøya offered the opportunity for a good walk. It was not the longest one in the world, but the deep snow still demanded a good bit of energy. Smeerenburgfjord showed off with its amazing scenery, and September showed off with its amazing light.
The sailing wind that we had been hoping for in the afternoon did not show off. It did not exist at all. So it was motor all the way to Krossfjord, were we made a little evening visit to the old weather station that was operated from 1912 to 1914.
On to the western north coast it was time to do some miles. A morning in Liefdefjord. Scenery: great. Weather and light: great. Stunning.
Of course we could easily have spent the whole day there, or two or three … but we were determined to have a look at the legendary island of Moffen. Rather, to go ashore there, to be more precise. And so we did in the evening. Also here: stunning!
A day on the second-largest island of Svalbard. Winter seems to have the place under control, everything is covered by snow, lakes and lagoons are frozen here in inner Murchisonfjord (photos here). Again we were lucky and had the weather on our side, with kind of golden, heavy early winter light over the landscape.
The polar bear sighting yesterday on Wahlbergøya was so good that we had another look this morning, trying to make it even better. And it worked perfectly well, it could not have been better.
Meanwhile, winter has arrived. Snow is everywhere, on the ground and in the air. There was actually so much snow in the air that we had to pick a good moment for a walk on Smittøya to have the minimum visibility that we really need to be able to see what is going on around us.
Click on thumbnail to open an enlarged version of the specific photo.
There was not much going on anymore at Alkefjellet (more Photos here), at least in terms of Brünich’s guillemots. They have all left. But the rocks are stunning also without the guillemots, and the gulls are still there and they put on quite a show for us.
Von Otterøya is covered with fresh snow all the way down to the shoreline, hence the arctic land appears in a totally different light. Different walks and hikes take us up the hills and along the shorelines. A distant polar bear makes us return a bit earlier. No drama whatsoever, but better safe than sorry.
Later, we find another polar bear walking around on Wahlbergøya. A beautiful sighting 🙂
It was quite late last night when we reached Kiepertøya and dropped the anchor there. And believe it or not, but there was no fog, no polar bear. Nothing that could keep us from going ashore and having a good look around on the island. And there is so much of interest. And a bunch of bags plastic less on the beach now. And a sad story. More about that on the Kiepertøya pano page.
Later we sailed (literally, at least to begin with) to Bråsvellbreen. More than 8000 square kilometres of ice terminating in a seemingly endless calving front.
Negribreen is amongst the largest glaciers of the main island of Spitsbergen. Earlier I would have said the largest glacier of the main island, but I am not so sure anymore.
Endless amounts of ice in all shapes and colours, some icebergs with otherworldly beautiful blue colours. A glacier front kilometres long. A monstrous calving … extremely impressive, extremely beautiful.
The changes that are apparent here are less beautiful. The eastern part, which used to be a stunning and very much alive glacier front just a couple of years ago, has partly disappeared, and the part that is still there is now reduced to a huge tabular piece of ice that is dead now, without a connection to the active part of the glacier. It will just disappear within a few years. In other words, the eastern part of Negribreen has seen an almost complete collapse, and the once so huge glacier is, well, still huge, but in comparison to its past, a mere shadow of its previous size.
Click on thumbnail to open an enlarged version of the specific photo.
Later, we went to Heleysund and Straumsland. A beautiful part of Spitsbergen, with tundra, lakes, wetlands, basalt landscapes, Spitsbergen reindeer, arctic foxes and beautiful views of Heleysund, Kükenthaløya and Barentsøya.
After a very relaxed rounding of the south cape we went to one of the places where the consequences of climate change are most dramatic: Hambergbukta with the glacier Hambergbreen. Situated on Spitsbergen’s east coast opposite Hornsund, it is now just a few kilometres of glacier ice left between these two fjords. It won’t take forever until there is a channel between them, turning Sørkapp Land into a huge Sørkapp island.
But it will still take some time. Currently, Hambergbreen is still a huge and very impressive glacier.
Click on thumbnail to open an enlarged version of the specific photo.
Later we managed a landing at Boltodden, with the famous dinosaur footprints. An amazing place. It is always great when a landing there is possible.