When I was little there was nothing scarier than the troll. The big, hideous beast that sometimes had two heads, and sometimes only one eye. It lived in the mountains and in the forest, and only came out at night to smell human blood. If you are out in the woods after dark, you may still encounter it. A gnarled old branch becomes an arm, and a head lurks behind a rock. Villmarka, the wild, unknown and scary, but also alas, so exciting! The wilderness is disappearing We used to have a lot of wilderness, but there is less and less of it. Since 1940 alone, we have lost wilderness corresponding to an area larger than the whole of Viken, Vestfold and Telemark, Agder and Møre and Romsdal combined. That is a decrease of almost a quarter. If this development continues, we will soon have no more wilderness left in Norway. When we lose nature, we also lose the origin of the Norwegian folk tales and a number of our most valued paintings. Even worse, of course, is that animals and plants lose their habitats. And the less forests and bogs that absorb greenhouse gases, the worse the climate crisis will become. Nature is identity The world is in the midst of both a global climate crisis and a natural crisis, both overwhelming crises the extent of which can be difficult to grasp. Perhaps it will be easier for us to relate to these crises if we also talk about the great loss of identity that lurks in their wake? Nature and culture are often set against each other as stark opposites, but this distinction is artificial. If we do not protect our nature, we will also lose a huge amount of culture and much of our national identity. Many of the best-known Norwegian folk tales are linked to nature and the landscape in Norway. If we humans subject ourselves to every little nook and cranny of the wilderness, what happens to the adventures? Where does the tension go? VILLMARKA IS DISAPPEARING: This is how Theodor Kittelsen could paint his famous picture gal–Rs. Illustration: Linda Heggen / Norsk Friluftsliv No stories on a dead planet Are we to accept that the mysterious and untouched is only something found in children’s bedtime stories and in framed pictures in museums? Or should we simply tell our children, say it like it is, that it is us humans who have become the big ugly troll, who stomps down and plows his way through forests, marshes, fields and mountains? Because the biggest threat to nature in Norway is actually us humans. We build cabins, roads and energy plants where there used to be nature, so that animals, plants and fungi have less space and poorer living conditions. Of the threatened species on the Norwegian red list, as many as 9 out of 10 are affected by us humans destroying their habitats. We must realize that when we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves. As the environmental activist David R. Brower so well put it: “There’s no business on a dead planet.” But there is no history on a dead planet either. We take better care of art than nature In December 2022, the countries of the world agreed on a new global agreement for people and nature. The Nature Agreement, or the Montreal Agreement as it is also called, aims to both stop the loss of nature and give us more nature by 2030. Through the agreement, the countries have, among other things, committed themselves to protecting 30 percent of sea and land areas, restoring 30 percent of destroyed nature and stop the extinction of species. Norway is one of the countries that has signed, thus committing to protect 30 percent of nature. By following up on the nature agreement, we will be able to restore and hopefully appreciate nature as much as our national romantic paintings and folk tales, which had precisely nature as the great source of inspiration.
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The folktales are threatened – Statement
