Newsletter: The Wrath of Mother Earth
The ice is disappearing before our eyes. Photo: Glacier NPS.
Dear reader! If we did not know any better, we might think that Mother Earth has had enough of destruction and sends disease and extreme weather of biblical proportions our way in order to destroy the parasites. Now, all we have to do is wait for swarms of insects and also famine. And there is nobody to blame but ourselves.
Is it a paradox that business in the High North is booming while a pandemic and climate changes ravage the globe? I am not quite sure how to interpret this. But the fact is that the High North is doing well these days.
Today, Nussir announced that it has selected LNS (Leonard Nilsen & Sons) to construct its mine in Kvalusnd, in the northernmost part of Norway, and to operate the underground mine. The contract extends across ten years with prolong options, and its value is estimated at NOK 4 billion.
This is good news for Northern Norway, as the company is owned by local actors.
Gold and research
In Canada, there is a debate about the latest initiative from the Chinese Shandong Gold Mining Corporation, which wants to buy a goldmine in Nunavut. Shandong Gold Mining Corp. is owned by Chinese authorities and is one of China’s largest producers of gold, so we are talking big bucks [Norwegian only].
In Tromsø, the cancer research company Lytix Biopharma has landed a giant agreement with American Verrica Pharmaceuticals for treatment of skin cancer. Several of the owners of Lynx Biopharma come from the island of Senja in Northern Norway [Norwegian only].
Chairman Gert W. Munthe og administrerende direktør Øystein Rekdal i Lytix biopharma. Foto: Håvar Haug
Turning the tables
It is no secret that the High North has seen a negative population growth for years. Bø municipality in the Vesterålen archipelago in Northern Norway may have found a cure that works to attract capital and jobs.
The local council has decided to lower the municipal wealth tax rate, hoping to attract private business to the municipality. A method that appears to be working already.
Surprised by climate changes
Those were the good news; no the bad ones.
A new study shows that existing climate models underestimate the pace of global warming in the Arctic. This news comes while Canada’s largest remaining ice shelf disintegrated in only days.
Jens Hesselbjerg Christensen er klimaprofessor ved Niels Bohr Institute ved København universitet. Foto: Det danske meteorologiske institutt.
“The sea ice appears to be disappearing faster than most climate models ever predicted”, says Jens Hesselbjerg Christensen, professor at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, to High North News.
This is remarkable and dramatic, and my brain keeps playing disaster movies from the last decade.
And then there is Corona in the High North. The situation appeared to be somewhat under control – until the Hurtigruten expedition ship MS Roald Amundsen sailed to Svalbard loaded with a fresh Covid-19 outbreak.
Considering measures
The cruise vessel was never allowed to dock in Longyearbyen, and the Svalbard Governor says the outbreak did not affect health preparedness resources in Svalbard.
Infection Control Chief Physician Torild Berg at Longeyarbyen hospital says stricter infection control measures are consistently considered by local and central authorities if and when need be.
In his first Friday comment after the summer holidays, our Editor-in-Chief Arne O. Holm does not mince his words when judging how Hurtigruten has managed the situation:
HNN-redaktør Arne O. Holm.
“Hurtigruten’s management refers to the police investigation when refusing to answer questions. But the fact that a company is being investigated by the police does not absolve it of its right or duty to answer questions of interest to the public. The police track is an excuse to not be “completely honest” and transparent.”
Vague future
Nobody knows what next week will bring. That’s how it goes. Travel advice change almost on a daily basis through a most vague traffic light model presented by our government.
Municipalities shut down activities on an ongoing basis and nobody knows whether going to the hairdresser is still considered safe.
When the next ice shelf collapses and causes an expected disaster, it will be too late to turn.
But resilient northerners have managed before and we’ll do it again.
With that, we wish you all the best from the editorial staff of High North News. Do not forget to let us know what goes on in your Arctic.
Best regards,
Trine Jonassen
News Editor, High North News