On September 2 the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon will visit UNIS. Together with the Norwegian Minister of Environment, the Secretary-General will lead a panel discussion on the impact of a melting Arctic.

Text: Eva Therese Jenssen

The Secretary-General of the UN is visiting Norway for 2 days next week. Most of this official visit will be on Svalbard, where Mr. Ban Ki-Moon will visit research stations, the global seed vault and UNIS in Longyearbyen.

It is the Norwegian Minister of Environment, Erik Solheim, who will host the Svalbard visit. While in Longyearbyen, the Secretary-General will visit UNIS and lead a panel discussion about the melting Arctic.

“Global impact from a melting Arctic” is the title of the panel topic. The melting of the sea ice over the North Pole and Greenland are the key global indicators for climate change and is threatening the existence of Indigenous people from the Arctic and from the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), according the invitation issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ms. Sheila Watt Cloutier, former chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council; Mr. Rolph Payet, environmental advisor to the president of the Seychelles, and Mr. Svein Tveitdal, director of Klima 2020, will together with the Secretary-General and the Minister of Environment make up the panel debate group.

The panel debate will focus on the role of the UN in promoting the well-being, security and sustainability of coastal communities in the Arctic and SIDS during climate change.

Programme for UNIS visit on September 2, 2009:

10.15 Welcome, Gunnar Sand – Director, The University Centre in Svalbard

10.20 Panelist introduction statements

10.40 Panel discussion

11.00 Q & A – interaction with the audience

11.15 Time for the press

The panel discussion will be in the auditorium “Møysalen” and is open for the public. If you wish to attend, please be seated in the auditorium by 10.15 AM at the latest.

The Norwegian Minister of Environment, Erik Solheim (left) will accompany the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to Svalbard and UNIS next week. (Photo: UN Photo/Evan Schneider).