The new report from the National Audit Office refers to “extensive reallocations” of cultivated and arable land, which is instead used for purposes other than food production. “It is often the best soil that is reallocated to other purposes”, writes the National Audit Office. Auditor General Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen calls it “critical” that land resources in agriculture are not managed in a more sustainable way. – The total agricultural area in Norway has remained relatively stable over the past 20 years, but the best soil for food production has been reduced, he says. Since 1949, 1.2 million acres of cultivated and arable land have been reallocated to various development purposes in Norway. The relationship between food safety, nature conservation and spatial planning has been on the agenda after the government presented a new soil conservation strategy in May. A month later, they got Parliament to agree on a new target that a maximum of 2,000 acres of cultivated land can be reallocated to other purposes each year. The previous ceiling was 4,000 acres. 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 Corresponds to an area the size of Vestfold At the same time, one of the largest technology companies in the world is tempting by saying they want to invest NOK 50 billion “right in the middle of the dinner plate” on Jæren. If the municipal council grants a dispensation for the plans in November, Green Mountain has guaranteed 850 man-years at the data centre. In several other places in the country, local politicians are also faced with the dilemma between protection and development. The area that has been set aside for housing, recreational housing and industry corresponds to an area the size of Vestfold county. To help Norwegian municipalities navigate the tug-of-war between leisure construction, commercial activities, protection and food security, Agder County Municipality has developed a new method for land accounting. – We did that because there was no national method, says Gunnar Ogwin Lindaas in the county council. The purpose is to give municipalities and other county municipalities a general overview of the planned development area, and to make the municipalities more aware of the cost. So far, there has been a lack of such a comprehensive overview of land reserves for development. 80 municipalities will become area neutral. This means that if they are going to build something in a nature area, another area must be restored, so that they are left with as much nature after the development. Photo: NINA – The municipalities have a key role – We hope that this can be useful and that the municipalities engage in a debate about how much development is desirable overall, says Trond Simensen. He is a researcher at NINA and has helped develop the tool. Among the municipalities that have all taken a “plan wash” is Bygland. Here, 3,300 football pitches were previously set up for a new leisure center (23 square kilometres). In the proposal for an audit, the municipality has taken away 90 per cent of this. – The municipalities have a key role in facilitating sustainable land management, says section leader at the Norwegian Environment Agency, Steinulf Hoel. He characterizes it as “very positive” that Agder County Municipality has developed a tool that “raises the awareness of the municipalities and raises the discussion about land use”. At the same time, 80 Norwegian municipalities have announced that they have plans to become “area neutral”. 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. – The goal is for everyone to benefit from this work. In total, figures from Statistics Norway show that 83,000 acres of agricultural land are included in municipal plans and could be built on in the long term. In Vestland, the municipalities of Aurland, Sunnfjord, Vik and Voss have received NOK 920,000 in climate assessment funds from the state to develop a methodology for municipal area accounting. – The goal is for all municipalities to benefit from this work, says Synnøve Stalheim, who is head of section in Vestland county municipality. She says the Agder method is “a good starting point for the preparation of area accounting also for Vestland”. – We are in the start-up phase of such work, and wish to further develop and adapt the tool for use with us. In Norway, there are 11.3 million acres of agricultural land, which is about 3.5 per cent of the land in the country.
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The National Audit Office criticizes that topsoil is being built up – news Vestland
