Although it is supposedly "common knowledge" that there are more polar bears than people in Svalbard, in reality the most recent scientific survey shows there are about 270 polar bears versus only 2700 people in the archipelago. The total of roughly 3,000 polar bears often cited is for the entire Barents Sea region – including the sea ice to the north and Russian territory to the east – and Svalbard's bears are increasingly isolated from the other two groups as climate change effects accelerate.

Looking out the back door of Svalbarði's headquarters we can see the famous Svalbard Global Seed Vault right up the hill. Few people know what seeds are actually inside, so we decided to find out the facts by combing through operator NordGen's detailed Seed Portal database of the 642 million seeds in the vault.

A Google or YouTube search for "most expensive water" or "most expensive bottled water" turns up a quick series of lists. Most use old incorrect data including brands that no longer exist, and/or the prices are wrong. So we've gathered an updated list. We exclude the few "crazy" waters sold for tens of thousands of dollars as publicity stunts and count only brands that are really available somewhere in the world. So here are the world's top 10 most expensive waters in 2019.

We are pleased to announce the start of our new partnership with DRM of Norway. Svalbarði will now be available for all DRM of Norway luxury culinary experiences and alongside their curated product offerings. The concept for Svalbarði began forming at the time our founder Jamal Qureshi was living in the southern Norwegian city of Stavanger. Known as the entrance to western Norway's fjord country, Stavanger is also home to some of Norway's finest culinary experiences. It is the only city outside of Oslo with Michelin star awarded restaurants. Despite being only one-fifth the size of the capital, Stavanger has two Michelin star restaurants to...

With just 2700 people Svalbard is overwhelmingly arctic wilderness. Visitors often hope to catch a glimpse of the wildlife that far outnumbers the human population. And 2018 is turning out to be an excellent year to see some of the Arctic's most majestic creatures.

Monday 26 February 2018 marked the 10 year anniversary of the opening of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Run by the non-profit Crop Trust based in Berlin, and majority funded by the Norwegian government (along with private donations), the purpose of the Vault is to preserve food crop seeds from around the world. It acts as a backup to other seed banks around the globe (thus the nickname "Doomsday Vault"), working to ensure that problems from natural or man-made disasters won't be able to cause crops to go extinct. Whether by global warming writ large, a growing hungry world population, or wars such...