An overview from the environmental organization Sabima shows that 80 Norwegian municipalities aim to become “area neutral”. The status of “neutral” means that all untouched nature must be left alone, or that all construction is “compensated” by another and similar area being “restored” and green again. Behind sing the nature agreement that was signed in Montreal before Christmas. The international agreement obliges Norway to protect 30 per cent of nature, and has seen several large road and cottage projects in play. Roads on the shooting range at Hjerkinn on Dovrefjell were removed when the area was restored back to its natural state. The 80 municipalities include those that have already decided that they will become area neutral, plus those that “are in the process” and have ambitions for the same. – I wish this took a much bigger place in the election campaign, says Astrid Brekke Skrindo at the Norwegian Institute for Natural Sciences (NINA). She points out that “all nature can be found in a municipality” and that spatial planning is where local democracy is put to the test, symbolized by the fact that municipalities have been given greater responsibility for land use (see below). Municipalities have gained greater responsibility for environmental and land management The Ministry of Climate and the Environment “lost” the main responsibility for Norwegian land management to the Ministry of Local Government and Modernization when the Solberg government took office in 2013. The move was accompanied by two circulars in which the Solberg government specified that the state administrators should “limit the use of objections” and emphasize local democracy more strongly. The claim of the MDG and others is that this has, in sum, weakened nature’s interests, demonstrated by figures from the National Audit Office which show that 43 per cent of objections to the state administrator were upheld by the ministry in 2010–2013. For the period 2014–2017, the corresponding figure is 22 per cent. – I am proud of our pioneering work On the Alltinget website, Nordre Follo is identified as the smartest in the class. – I am proud of our pioneering work. It’s about political will and priorities, says Hanne Opdan (Ap), who is mayor in the municipality. She points to the value of small “hundred meter forests”, green groves and hiking opportunities in the local environment. Recruitment problems and a small professional environment mean that especially medium-sized municipalities give in to development pressure. That is the conclusion of the report “Storleiken tel”. Frode Meskau On Monday, the Norwegian Environment Agency launched a handbook for impact assessments “to contribute to more sustainable spatial planning”. The digital handbook contains examples, templates and checklists that municipalities can use to set (higher) requirements for developers. The background is that small and medium-sized municipalities with limited resources and weak “negotiation cards” have been identified as “an Achilles’ heel” in the work with nature conservation. The Ilabekken in Trondheim was in pipes underground before it was restored in 2006.Juliet Landrø and Dagmar Hagen/LARS ERIK SKREFSRUD Litmus test for local democracy The Nature Conservation Association has said that the municipal elections will provide “an important pointer” as to whether local democracy is able to regulate development, or whether the state must keep an eye on them more. – The way we use our land is absolutely decisive in solving both the nature and climate crisis. That is why it is very important that the municipalities get proper tools, says Ellen Hambro, director of the Norwegian Environment Agency. KS director Helge Eide says that the list of municipalities that will become area-neutral “illustrates the rapid growth in attention” that the link between nature conservation and climate has received. – A digital handbook would certainly come in handy. But there is still enough development of area accounting and practical tools to be able to put this into use easily, which is the most important thing, he says. On Monday, the Norwegian Environment Agency launched a handbook for impact assessments “to contribute to more sustainable spatial planning”. – We appreciated this tool, says mayor Hanne Opdan (Ap). Photo: Fredrik Hagen – It is demanding to become area neutral On the list of municipalities that “are in the process of adopting area neutrality” are Sunnfjord and Høyanger, both in Sogn og Fjordane. The mayors in both municipalities emphasize that the road from ambition to decision to implementation can be long: – We are going a long way to reach the national goals, but it is demanding to become area neutral. Adopting land neutrality is one thing, but implementing it means a lot of work, says Sunnfjord mayor Jenny Følling (Sp). In February, news reported that 18 new cabins were built every single day in 2022, and that this is a new record. Several made a point that the pace of development was on a “complete collision course” with the UN nature agreement to protect 30 per cent of nature. Photo: news – A goal to become area neutral can quickly become a sham process, says Petter Sortland (Ap), mayor of Høyanger. He adds: – It is so important to have knowledge of bogs and other areas that are important to take care of, and to avoid the development of such areas. Furthermore, it is important to have strategies for renewal, transformation and densification of existing land. It takes nature a thousand years to build one meter of bog. But the wet, thick peat acts as a carbon sponge. Although bogs only cover three percent of the earth’s surface, as much carbon is stored here as in the entire atmosphere. When peat is dug up, this carbon is released and becomes CO₂. In addition, the greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide are released. The Norwegian Institute for Biotechnology (Nibio) calculates that emissions from destroyed bogs can correspond to seven percent of all Norwegian emissions. According to the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research (Nina), it can be as much as ten percent. This roughly corresponds to the emissions from all passenger cars on Norwegian roads.
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80 municipalities will stop all nature loss – news Vestland
