IK Foundation & Company: News: Bear Island - Book launch on board the world's most famous polar ship

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TITLE:
"Bear Island" - Book Launch Onboard the World's most Famous Polar Ship - the Fram - in Oslo, Norway. (May 2006)

DATE:
02/05/2006

ARTICLE CONTENT:
Bjørnøen Ltd, Norway (the coal mining company which formally owns Bear Island) and IK Foundation & Company, UK, together with its author Dag Hagenæs Kjelldahl, presented the book "Bear Island" - the story of an isolated arctic island - exploration, people, culture and natural history and the latest book in the series "Nordic Travellers". The launch took place in Oslo onboard the main deck of the world famous polar ship, the Fram.

Guests from five countries with a wide-ranging scientific and general interest in the culture and natural history of the northerly polar regions were welcomed by Mr Knut M Ore, Chairman of Bjørnøen Ltd. Introducing the proceedings, Mr Ore told of the work involved in protecting and expanding knowledge of Bear Island. With the new book, important documentation will now be available to an international sphere of interest - something that in the long term may increase scientific interest in the area.

Lars Hansen, director of IK Foundation & Company, delineated the background to the series "Nordic Travellers" which, with this publication, will encompass Europe, Oceania and now also the northerly polar region. Like the other publications from IK, the book "Bear Island" also has as its long term objective to make a difference by dispersing knowledge of the environment as well as cultural and natural history. The example of the early polar traveller Anton Rolandsson Martin was mentioned, who in the 18th century visited Svalbard, sent by Carl Linnaeus. His journal will be published in IK's extensive series "The Linnaeus Apostles - Global Science and Adventure" during 2007.

The author, Mr Dag Hagenæs Kjelldahl, then went on to present a paper on his experiences on Bear Island, and on the cross-disciplinary research with which he had been involved in recent years. Besides having a totally unique cultural and natural history, Bear Island is, argues Kjelldahl, a sensitive place in a very much exposed area where further prospecting for oil and gas, and not least the transporting of these, may have a serious impact on the fragile stocks of fish and birds of the region. He hopes his book will play a significant role in understanding the cultural and natural history of the region.