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The Arctic Svalbard Islands Flourish Amid Changing Climate

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Coastal ice melts in the city of Longyearbyen, in Norway's Svalbard Islands. (AP)

You may not have heard of it and it may be cold, dark and desolate for much of the year, but the islands of Svalbard in the Norwegian Arctic are flourishing.

As more and more countries eye the opportunities being revealed by melting polar ice, businesses, tourists, and international politicians are all beating a path to the northernmost inhabited place on earth.

The BBC's Paul Henley followed them, as Svalbard emerges from the long polar night.

This segment aired on March 16, 2012.

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