Plants and flowers

About 60% of Svalbard’s land-mass is covered by small and large glaciers. Only 6-7% of the land-area is covered by vegetation. The most fertile areas are in the inner fjord-regions of Spitsbergen.

All over Svalbard there is permafrost - only the top meter of earth is thawing during summer. The flora has a very short growing-season, low temperatures, lack of precipitation and a relatively barren ground soil. Nonetheless a number of small plants are able to survive in this hostile environment. In the area around Longyearbyen more than 100 different species of plants have been registered, while totally on Svalbard there are around 176 species of plants.

The flora is very fragile and everyone travelling on Svalbard must take great care to avoid causing any damage. The destruction of vegetation may leave lasting traces in the landscape.