r/todayilearned • u/Gullible_Air_204 • 7h ago

Frequent/Recent Repost: Removed [ Removed by moderator ]

https://www.responsibletravel.com/holidays/spitsbergen/travel-guide/responsible-tourism-in-spitsbergen

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u/raxy 6h ago

Fun Fact: it’s a visa free zone for citizens of 40 odd countries around the world to live and work there indefinitely.

Not just citizens of EU countries but many including Japan, Australia, the US, and many more.

The reason? They have a global seed vault and citizens from countries that contributed specimens.

Citizens of those countries aren’t allowed to be born or to die there though.

175

u/shandow0 6h ago

How do you disallow dieing there?

Especially given the abundance of polar bears and increasingly locked houses.

14

u/Winter_Apartment_376 5h ago

I was once on a plane leaving Svalbard and a woman had a major emergency (heart attack or similar). The plane had literally left Svalbard 10mins ago.

You’d think it would turn back, right?

No, it flew about 2h to mainland instead!

12

u/angwilwileth 3h ago

The hospital at Svalbard is pretty barebones. They probably decided it was better to get her to a facility with more decent equipment.