Climate change damages buildings on Svalbard
Climate change damages buildings on Svalbard
Abnormally high average temperatures have led to damage to several buildings on Svalbard, and the Government has been issued its first climate bill.
The service building in Ny-Ålesund suffers several severe cracks. Both floors and walls are destroyed. The Permafrost under the building is melting and the foundation has to be re-made, writes Klassekampen.
The entrance to the seed bank in Longyearbyen has also been damaged, while the Sysselmannsgård (Norwegian Authority on Svalbard), Master Miner’ residence and the Funken Lodge have already got new foundations, writes the newspaper.
Additional funds
In the Government’s revised state budget, there is set aside an additional NOK 148 million for construction and infrastructure work on Svalbard. The Government proposes to spend NOK 25 million to repair the Service building.
– Climate change will lead to increased costs in the years to come. The damages we will repair are early examples of the challenges that will come, says Minister for Climate and Environment, Ola Elvestuen (Labour) to the newspaper.
Over the past 90 months, Svalbard has had an average temperature above the norm, and Elvestuen emphasizes the urgent need for international agreements to reach the two centigrade goal:
– If we do not succeed with the climate policy, we will experience huge costs due to melting and other negative effects of global warming.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
