Only Norway and Turkey allow mine waste into the sea

environment demonstrationOslo.Environment demonstration : Vidar Ruud / NTB scanpix

When The World Conservation Union passed a proposal to stop the dumping of mine waste into the sea, only Norway and Turkey voted no.

According to the newspaper VG, 53 States supported the proposal, which was made during the World Wildlife Union World Congress in Hawaii.

“The overwhelming support that this proposal has received shows that we are standing alone in this decision”, says leader Silje Ask Lundberg of the Naturvernforbundet to VG. She believes that Norway has given away our fjords to the mining industry for many years.

“There is no scientific basis for claiming that the landfill on land is in general better than landfill in the sea. We will always consider alternative solutions against each other, and consider the pros and cons”, says Climate and Environment Minister Vidar Helgesen. He argues that the situation of Norway is special, which is why Norway is not in line with the majority of countries in this matter. “There are just a few countries that have landfill both at sea and in the fjords. Norway is special in the sense that there are few countries that have the same topography, with many fjords and mountains by fjords”.

World Wildlife union was founded in 1948 and brings together 111 government agencies and over 800 non-governmental organizations.

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today