Norway is investing millions on restoring nature, but…

NatureNature.Photo: pixabay.com

This year 26.6 million in budget money will be spent on restoring Norwegian nature. ‘It’s good, but it is not enough’, agree environmental organizations.

This year’s amount is a solid increase from 16 million in 2016, and in 2015, 3 million was used to restore marshes and wetlands, reported Dagsavisen newspaper .

‘The new money will be used to close old ditches that are designed to build up forestry or cultivate the land, but where the drainage has not led to productive
forest or agricultural land’, said political advisor, Jens Frølich Holte, of the Climate and Environment Ministry.

He said restoration will reduce carbon emissions, and contribute to slowing climate change, and increasing habitats for endangered species.

Chief Advisor, Arnodd Haugen, of the Naturvernforbundet (Nature Union) said restoration of nature has been something they had been clamouring for in conservation circles, and among biologists, for many years.

‘Restoration of marshes and wetlands is very necessary, and the commitment of the government is good. But there is a paradox; that they still accept trenching in forestry, peat extraction and the dismantling of marshes and wetlands’.

Adviser, Sverre Lundemo, of WWF-Norway, says restoration of nature is urgently needed in many protected areas.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today