The matter in summary: – Local Government Minister Erling Sande and several local politicians are reacting to the statement by parliamentary representative Alfred Bjørlo (V) that nature management in the municipalities is a “home-alone party”. – The statement came in light of a report from the Nature Risk Committee and Bremanger municipality’s approval of a quarry near the Vingen rock carving field, despite protests.- Several municipal board representatives have expressed dissatisfaction with the statement, and believe he is disrespectful and harmful to local democracy. natural crisis.- Researchers and editors point to a gap between national and local administration, and a conflict between national conservation strategies and local development wishes.- There has been increasing pressure to lift more of spatial planning to a higher level of administration, but there has also been resistance to delimit local self-government. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. Local Government Minister Erling Sande and several local politicians reacted strongly after Storting representative Alfred Bjørlo (V) characterized nature management in Municipality-Norway as a “home-alone party” from the Storting’s lectern. The background for the statement was two-fold: The new report from the Natural Risks Committee that the state must come up with clearer guidelines to keep the municipalities in the ear in matters of development. And more concretely: Bremanger municipality agreed to build a quarry in the vicinity of the Vingen rock carving field – despite protests from the State Administrator, the National Antiquities, the Ministry of Climate and the Environment and abroad. Bjørlo received an immediate response to the charges from municipal minister Erling Sande (Sp). – This is a disrespectful way of referring to Norwegian local politicians, he said, clearly upset. – It is not the case that we as national politicians are handed out the fine when we enter the doors of the Storting, says Erling Sande, left. Alfred Bjørlo on the right. Photo: Maria Gunnarsdotter Svedal / news – I don’t like being hung out like this The image of the young people dancing on the table when their parents are away has also provoked several municipal council representatives. – I don’t like being hung out like this. This testifies more to extortion than a desire for dialogue, writes local politician for Høgre, Per Røys, on Facebook. Bremanger mayor Anne Kristin Førde (Ap) believes the statement is “sloppy” and likely to damage local democracy. She points out that the reality in several Norwegian district municipalities is anything but a party, but an existential struggle for existence. Last year, 18 children were born in Bremanger. New bottom record. – We will not say yes to everything, but we are in a turning point where we need growth, she says. The Heime Aleine reply and the call from the Nature Risk Committee are the two latest expressions of the increased level of tension between national and local politicians after news documented 44,000 small and large nature encroachments in the last five years. The friction comes on top of reports that medium-sized municipalities in particular are exacerbating the natural crisis. – Bjørlo has a good point, even if he is a bit unparliamentary, says Lars H. Gulbrandsen, who is head of research at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. See response from Alfred Bjørlo and several reactions below. NTB Alfred Bjørlo, Venstre – I absolutely do not regret that I used that expression. It’s tabloid and eaten, but gets the point across. It is a fact that too much nature is being destroyed in Norway and the rest of the world. The Liberals will continue to fight that battle – and then we will have to live with the fact that we are provoking local politicians from both Labor Party, SP and Høgre – which is mostly the old “nature degradation alliance” in many Norwegian municipalities. This is a debate people have to tolerate, because it is about our common future. Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB Olve Grotle, Høgre – I don’t recognize the claim that the municipalities have had a “party at home alone”, neither as mayor for 10 years nor as a representative of the Storting. On the contrary, I experienced as mayor that the public authorities had a tight grip on everything that had to do with municipal building, development and area plans. Often there could be real and understandable safeguarding of non-profit interests linked to climate, nature and the environment, but I experienced all too often that central public bodies did not have good enough local knowledge or were able to distinguish between the important and the unimportant. Heiko Junge / NTB Rasmus Hansson, MDG – Of course, the municipalities must be central to the protection of nature and soil, but they cannot do it on their own. The government must decide whether it is most interested in Norwegian nature or the ideology of municipal self-government. If the government continues to pulverize nature responsibility over 357 municipalities, it will not keep its nature promises. The government has made a big promise to stop the loss of nature: Protect 30 percent and restore 30 percent by 2030. The last 50 years have shown that leaving this responsibility to the municipalities for ideological reasons does not work. NTB Karoline Andaur, WWF World Wildlife Fund – For the municipalities, it can be very demanding to meet the demand for more development and at the same time take care of nature. But in the face of the nature crisis and the constant piece-by-piece destruction of Norwegian nature, everyone must contribute to ensuring that we actually get more nature. It is both about protection, sustainable use and, not least, nature restoration. Instead of pitting local politicians and parliamentary politicians against each other, the party in the Storting must support the municipalities and ensure a nature boost that enables the municipalities to take care of nature – whether it is in Haugesund, Smøla or Oslo. news Eirik Løkke, Civita – There are indications that there is a growing rift between local politicians and the Storting. I partly agree with the Natural Risk Committee that we should define more clearly what room for action the municipalities have in matters of protection and growth, and what predictions should be national. But I think that once you have defined the room for action for local politics, then you have to accept the decisions the municipalities come up with. Otherwise, we should have fewer municipalities and remove the county municipalities. NTB Truls Gulowsen, Naturvernforbundet – We are now experiencing a much greater understanding that the mantra that local self-government without national frameworks should be sufficient to secure Norwegian nature does not hold in practice. As Bjørlo påpeikar and Tufte-Johansen have shown, we lack an overarching system that ensures the preservation of Norwegian nature. Without such national frameworks, which are the same for everyone, it is far too difficult for local councils to make tough decisions. Then nature loses, bit by bit. We also hope that the government and Erling Sande can realize this, and take the necessary consequences. NTB Christian Steel, Sabima – The state must ensure that the municipalities can make better choices. The conclusion is that far too much nature has been destroyed, and that it has happened in a poorly planned manner without a comprehensive overview. But as many as 80 municipalities – a quarter of all Norwegian municipalities – are now working to become land-neutral. They need help from the state with a nature account that operates at municipal and project level and legal tools to manage development into “grey areas” and ensure ecological compensation. The state must also restore the state administrator as a safety net when there are crazy decisions in the municipalities, and as a guide and support for the municipalities. Asbjørn Torvanger, Cicero – There are conflicts of interest between different ways of using land where many fringe municipalities struggle with a decline in population and jobs, but also have large land resources. Tighter frameworks for land management in the municipalities is a possible way to go, for example with requirements for nature neutrality, where an intervention in nature must be compensated by restoring another natural area, or by the developer having to pay a nature tax. One strategy that may be easier to get political support for in order to reduce the management gap and place more emphasis on nature conservation is to compensate the municipalities for saving encroachments on valuable nature. The municipal sector wants and must be involved. Land policy requires difficult trade-offs between different considerations. When nature conservation is to be strengthened in land management, we must include residents and various interests in the local community. It is important to create understanding for the changes and for the decisions to have legitimacy. The right to manage one’s own land and the right to local taxation are important elements in a local democracy. This is best done through good processes in local democracy, within national frameworks and targets. – Outlying municipalities place less emphasis on nature conservation – There is a management gap between national and local land management, says Cicero researcher Asbjørn Torvanger, who was born and raised in Bremanger. He points out that Norway has national goals for nature conservation, including through the new Nature Agreement that was signed in Montreal; but that it is the municipalities that have their hands on the wheel in matters of development. And that these municipalities often have other and more “precarious” problems to solve. – Many fringe municipalities struggle with a decline in population. These therefore want more activity, business development and jobs, and place less emphasis on nature conservation and climate, he says. The desire for more agility and flexibility in beach zone protection is another “classic” which ritually put the relationship between local self-government and national protection policy to the test. Political editor in the Nation, Anne Ekornholmen, says that the number of difficult territorial conflicts will increase as national goals and local considerations are often in direct conflict. – The municipalities want growth, development and immigrants. It can be difficult to combine with the protection of natural areas, beach zones and topsoil. – Alfred Bjørlo knows this dilemma well, as a former mayor. The background for the “party statement” was Bremanger municipality’s yes to building a quarry in the vicinity of the Vingen rock carving field – despite protests from the State Administrator, the National Antiquities, the Ministry of Climate and the Environment and abroad. Photo: Visit Nordfjord Municipalities have been given greater responsibility for land management Despite claims that the “cottage municipalities” are an “Achilles heel” in the work with nature conservation, Norwegian municipalities have been given greater responsibility for environmental and land management in recent years. And as recently as January, Climate and Environment Minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen clarified that it was not appropriate to “cut corners” of the local self-government. The clarification came after increased pressure to lift more of the spatial planning to a higher administrative level, which can have a more overarching view of nature conservation. – It’s not just a tear. I would rather call it an abyss, says Harald Birkevold, who is political editor at Stavanger Aftenblad. He refers to the distance between national conservation strategies and “those who have their shoes on” out in district Norway. – Municipalities around the country compete against each other to be business-friendly. It leads to endless rounds of exceptions and dispensations which in small steps lead to unnecessary loss of natural values, he says. In the last couple of years, Statistics Norway has kept statistics on how the municipalities handle new cultivation on bogs. New cultivation on bogs was banned in 2020, and has more or less been so ever since. The statistics show that in 2022 (which are the latest figures available) 34 applications were received for cultivation on bogs. In 25 of the cases, the application was granted. This corresponds to 73.5 per cent, even though the New Cultivation Regulations state that the exception rule should only be used in “special cases”. – Exceptions will be the rule – Statistics show that the marsh is the same as the beach zone: Exceptions will be the rule, says general secretary of Sabima, Christian Steel. He believes the speech shows that the government must transfer dispensation authority to the state administrators as the municipalities “are not even able to say no to the destruction of what is referred to as the most important nature”. The civil ombudsman has previously examined how the municipalities handle applications for dispensation for construction in the beach zone. – The findings are disturbing, and give reason to doubt whether the municipalities have carried out the assessment required by the law, and whether the municipalities have understood the law correctly, said civil ombudsman Hanne Harlem.
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Anger at claim of “home alone party” – news Vestland
