India, Norway for joint polar research

• The potential for enhancing collaborative polar research between India and Norway is immense. This was the message of the Indo-Norwegian meeting titled 'Pole to Pole' on February 3, which included an exhibition and a seminar, and was organised by the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in collaboration with the Ministry's National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa, and the Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromso.
• Such collaborative research, the scientists of the two countries believe, will yield new insights into the effects of climate change and, indeed, the Polar Regions are referred to as nature's laboratories. Geology, glaciology and bacteriology were identified as the key areas for future collaboration in polar science at the end of the meeting that discussed possible areas for joint exploration and investigations.
• After three decades of Antarctic research — India's first expedition to Antarctica was in 1981 — India expanded its polar research by undertaking its first Arctic expedition in August 2007 and setting up its Arctic research station 'Himadri' at Nye-Alesund in the Svalbard region of Norway in 2008 to mark the International Polar Year (IPY). India established its first Antarctic research station Gangotri in 1983 and the second permanent station Maitri in 1989. It is establishing its third Antarctic station at Larsemann in East Antarctica.
• Unlike the Antarctic, Norway has a sovereign right over the Svalbard region, which is governed by the Svalbard Treaty of 1920. The Treaty today has 40 member countries. India signed the Treaty in 1923 which gives it the right to establish a research station there