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The first reactions to the state budget by environmental organizations are almost unequivocally negative.
– We need a significant investment, but this budget shows that the government is not taking the nature and climate crisis seriously, says Arnodd Håpnes, Biodiversity Leader at the Nature Conservation Association.
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He believes that nature has been forgotten and points out that Norway will likely not reach a single one of the UN’s nature goals by 2020.
One billion a year required
– It is scandalously bad that forest protection products are stagnant. The increase is 15 million in total, but a billion per year of forest protection is required if the Storting’s decision to triple forest protection is to be achieved, says Arnodd Håpnes.
Last week, leaders of 64 countries announced that the world is in a natural and climate crisis. In the announcement, they pledged to reverse the loss of biodiversity by 2030.
Erna Solberg Promises
Prime Minister Erna Solberg was one of these heads of state and stated the following:
“I believe that protecting nature is essential to achieve sustainability goals. To comply with the Paris Agreement. And to stop the catastrophic loss of biodiversity that we are experiencing.”
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– The investment in this budget is as far as possible from the Paris Agreement. They fail abruptly, and with the exception of a facility to capture and store CO2, I don’t see any investment in either direction, says Arnodd Håpnes of the Nature Conservation Association.
He thinks it surprising that Solberg and the Minister of Climate and Environment, Sveinung Rotevatn, do not give a higher priority to forest protection, since protection is one of the most important methods of conserving biological diversity, carbon storage.
– Simply a decline
– The increase in this state budget barely covers inflation, it is at best the status quo for investment in nature. Or just a decline, Håpnes tells Dagbladet.
The United Nations Decade for Ecosystem Restoration begins in 2021, where the goal is to increase efforts to restore destroyed nature and halt the loss of biological diversity, mitigate the negative consequences of climate change, and improve food security.
Incomprehensible
– Last year, it was agreed that nature is in a global crisis. So it is incomprehensible to me that they allocate zero crowns in the state budget to avoid this crisis, says the general secretary of the environmental organization Sabima, Christian Steel.
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– Shocking and disappointing
He believes that the government should follow its vision of more nature in the state budget for 2021, and that efforts to achieve the goals and make up for the delay should start with NOK 1.4 billion.
– There is not much to prevent a disaster. In the present, we now see a Liberal Party minister for climate protection and environment who has forgotten everything he said in opposition. Then he was one of the protection and enhancement of nature. Rotevatn now performs worse than his predecessor, who was a Conservative minister, which is both shocking and disappointing, Christian Steel tells Dagbladet.
Increases by 11.2 billion
Climate and Environment Minister Sveinung Rotevatn understands that the environmental movement wants even more, but does not understand why the state budget lacks direction.
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– That this budget has a clear direction, there is no doubt. We are increasing the budget by NOK 11.2 billion and the direction is very clear. We are implementing the green shift, Rotevatn tells Dagbladet.
– But is it true that the budget for forest protection does not increase by more than 15 million?
– I don’t have the exact number, but it’s about more than money. If we cooperate well with forest owners and they report the area of protection, we believe the level is sufficient to achieve the protection of ten percent of the forest areas. The area has increased over our period and we have now protected five percent of the forest.
– What do you think of the statement that you have forgotten your statements about protecting the forest from the moment you were in opposition?
– You are wrong. State budgets have doubled since the Liberal Party was in opposition, and I think we have a strong commitment. I understand that environmental protection organizations want more, but I believe that we will achieve our political goals and that the current government is the best option for success, Rotevatn tells Dagbladet.
