Sustainable Svalbard- a complete guide

The Svalbard Islands are located in the Arctic Ocean, halfway between Norway and the North Pole. It is one of the few islands with untouched arctic wilderness and with unique wildlife, and this is both rugged and fragile at the same time.  The beauty of this Island is mainly due to rich wildlife, arctic nature and old mining towns.

The word “Svalbard” means cold coasts and it was first mentioned in Icelandic texts in the 12^th century. The island is home to few thousand polar bears, 3000 human inhabitants of which 2000 live in Longyearbyen, the administrative centre and the largest settlement of the islands. It is the world’s northernmost city based for tourism in Svalbard.

The sustainable destination is a quality label for destinations in Norway. This prestigious certification is a seal of approval given to destinations that work systematically to reduce the negative impact of tourism.

Sustainable tourism involves taking care of nature, culture and the environment, to strengthen the social values and being financially viable. It is basically a platform for committed cooperation and development among the resident, businesses, guests and the tourist in preserving the nature and animal life.

Since 2016, Svalbard and Longyearbyen have been on the prestigious list of Sustainable Destinations.

The climate of Svalbard: Despite staying closer to the North Pole, Svalbard experiences relatively a mild climate. The temperature ranges from -20 degrees to -30 degrees in winter and periods of fog with 3-5 degree temperature in summer. 

In Svalbard Longyearbyen, the average temperature ranges from -14degrees during winter to 6 degrees during summer.

 Svalbard Longyearbyen is a small coal-mining town, known for its views of the Northern Lights. The city hosts Svalbard’s Modern Museum chronicles the regions’ natural and cultural history. The city has numerous tourist attractions which include camping, bird watching and it is a home for stuffed polar bears, Arctic fox, Reindeers and some live bears.

Things to Know About Polar Permaculture

Arctic region, to be precise, the northernmost city, experiences three months of darkness and is treeless where the subsoil is premanently frozen. In this region, vegetation is scanty. Production of fresh food was a distant dream.  Svalbard, a Norwegian Arctic island was facing immense problem without any local food. Here, agriculture was just not possible. Fresh food in Svalbard was indeed luxury. It was in 2015, Polar Permaculture was founded and in the Svalbard Island it is the sole source of fresh food. The polar permaculture is made possible by using geodesic dome shaped greenhouse, sustainable composting system and microgreens lab. The waste of Svalbard are not discarded in the sea anymore, the repurposing waste are processed into fertilizers for using in the next crops growing. 

A Brief Overview 

Polar Permaculture is the brainchild of Benjamin L.Vidmar, a foodie and eco-chef from Cleveland, Ohio. He and his team of farmers work untiringly everyday to feed the Svalbard community with proper nutrition. They try hard to create sustainable system for solving the common issue pertinent to fresh foods. They stay awake all night for growing fresh Longyearbyen food that would feed the entire community. Their organic vegetables, qual eggs and sprouts are matchless when it comes to suppyling proper nutrition. Keeping in mind the convenience of the consumers, the price of the products are reasonable. 

The Bottomline

Benjamin L.Vidmar and his team of proficient farmers are on a mission to utilize fully the resources they have in hand and not to stay subjugated which they don’t have. In the present time, they produce a wide variety of fresh Longyearbyen Food for feeding the local community making use of circular and sustainable system. A day will come when sufficient food can be produced for the Longyearbyen and all organic as well as biological waste will be processed rightly.