NORWAY: Green targets draw fire from environmental activists

A spokesperson from Norway’s environment ministry told edie that several environmental organisations are unhappy with the report and the policy statements within it. “Their criticisms have been that the goals are not ambitious enough, especially in nature conservation and biodiversity. In those areas they think our goals are not concrete enough”.

The report includes, for the first time in Norway, the use of specific indicators to measure progress in biodiversity. “The environmental groups realise that it is very difficult to set specific goals in this area, but they aren’t satisfied with our indicators,” the spokesperson said.

Although it has been decided that a report on Norway’s environment will be published annually, the environment ministry is not certain whether new policy statements will be included each year. Any new policy statements are likely to result from the ministry’s plan to focus each year on a few specific areas, as this year’s report has done with waste and wild salmon.

“The National Assembly asked the Government for a report on waste and the Government’s answer is contained within the larger state of the environment document ” said the spokesperson. The report sets targets for reducing waste generation and increasing waste recycling (with waste to energy generation included in the definition of waste recycling).

Other targets in this year’s annual report focus on a need to reduce transport noise levels.