Climate Change and the Environment

Norway underlined the vital importance of swift and constructive action on development, disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change on the road from Bali to Copenhagen, and beyond, in a statement at the 16th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) 6 May 2008. Read more

"Indigenous peoples need the support of both national authorities and the international community in order to continue their role as traditional caretakers of unique and fragile ecosystems," said H. E. Ambassador Mr. Johan L. Løvald at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 30 April 2008. Read more

"Representing indigenous peoples of the north, we are deeply concerned that climate change should have negative effects on the environment and the resources that are the foundations for our livelihood, and create changing conditions for our culture and traditions," said President Egil Olli of the Sami Parliamentary Council at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 22 April 2008. Read more

The Conference “Svalbard Global Seed Vault – Saving Seeds for Eternity?” was held 25 February, the day before the official ceremonial opening of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Read more

The world’s seeds are being frozen inside a mountain in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. On Tuesday 26 February, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault was officially opened. Read more

The agreement on climate policy is a sign of Norway’s willingness to move forward the target year for becoming carbon-neutral from 2050 to 2030. Read more

”The Norwegian satellite station TrollSat is a milestone in satellite surveillance of the environment,” Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said when opening TrollSat at the Norwegian research station Troll in Queen Maud Land in the Antarctic Saturday. Read more

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg 20 January had video contact from the Troll research station in the Antarctic with the leader of the international scientific expedition which has been traversing East Antarctica from Troll towards the South Pole, Director Jan-Gunnar Winther of the Norwegian Polar Institute. Read more

"Norway is prepared to increase its support for efforts to prevent deforestation in developing countries to about NOK 3 billion a year. This is a way of achieving large cuts in greenhouse gas emissions quickly and at low costs," said Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg when presenting Norway’s strategy for combating deforestation in developing countries. Read more

"The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is the ultimate safety net for the world’s seed banks," says Ola Westengen, Operation Manager at Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Read more

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told the UN High-Level Event on Climate Change  that new efforts will be needed to secure increased cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. He underlined that rich countries have an obligation to reduce global emissions. Read more

“Climate change is altering the face of disaster risk. In order to take global challenges of disaster risk reduction seriously, we need to integrate disaster and climate risk management with foreign policy and development cooperation,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre when opening a international conference on dealing with disaster and climate change. Read more

On February 26, the Global Crop Diversity Trust seed vault at Svalbard will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. Crop seeds from the entire world will be put into frozen storage for the future – 364 feet below the mountainside permafrost. Read more

"The Norwegian government is ready to play its part, and has therefore decided to cut the global emissions equivalent to 100 percent of our own emissions within 2030," Ambassador Mona Juul stated in the Informal thematic debate Addressing climate change: the United Nations and the World at Work. Read more