United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to be in Norway's Svalbard next week for a first-hand look at the damage caused by global warming to the Arctic Ocean, a UN spokeswoman said Monday, according to dpa. Ban's visit to Norway and the expected talks with government leaders has been overshadowed by sharp criticism from Norway's UN Ambassador Mona Juul that the UN chief has been ineffective in carrying out his responsibilities. Oslo has played down Juul's criticism, outlined in a letter she sent to her government and published in Oslo's daily Aftenposten last week. The UN has refused to enter the debate, referring to it as an internal matter for Norwegians. "At the time when the need for the United Nations and for multinational solutions to global crises is greater than ever, Ban and the UN are conspicuous in their absence," Aftenposten quoted the letter as saying. The letter said Ban was a "passive observer" in Myanmar's imprisonment of political prisoners and he was "helpless" in stopping the ethnic war in Sri Lanka. Ban will meet with Norway's prime minister and foreign minister August 31 and will travel to the Arctic region the following day. "He will visit polar research stations and the Global Seed Vault, get the latest updates on issues relating to the thinning ice and make his way to the Polar Ice Rim," said spokeswoman Michelle Montas. Ban, who made climate change a priority for the United Nations, has visited far-flung places affected by it. In November 2007 he travelled to Chile's southern tip in Punta Arenas before continuing on to Antarctica by small plane to Collins Glacier on King George's Island. He has been urging governments to agree to a new document to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which will expire in 2012. An international conference will be held in Copenhagen in December to try to work out the new agreement. But UN officials involved in the negotiations were doubtful of much success in Copenhagen because governments have been slow in meeting deadlines and agreeing on all the complex issues related to climate change.
