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ENVIRONMENT

Norway’s parliament greenlights controversial deep-sea mining exploration

Norway's parliament on Tuesday adopted a government plan to open up parts of its seabed to mining exploration, despite protests from activists and scientists' warnings about the uncertain environmental impact.

Pictured is the Norwegian parliament.
Norway's parliament has approved deep-sea mining exploration. Pictured is the Norwegian parliament. Photo by Marco Süssi on Unsplash

The proposal to gradually open up a 280,000-square-kilometre (108,100 square mile) area, mostly in the Arctic, was approved by the Storting, with 80 votes in favour and 20 against.

A small group of protesters had gathered outside the parliament in Oslo, displaying banners reading “Stop deep sea mining” and “Norway protect our oceans”.

“They are opening a very new, vulnerable and enormous area that has been under-explored by scientists,” Haldis Tjeldflaat Helle of Greenpeace Norway told AFP.

Already Western Europe’s largest oil and gas producer, the Scandinavian nation is now set to become one of the first countries to explore the ocean floor for minerals crucial for renewable energy technology, potentially making it a major mineral producer.

At the same time, deep-sea mining is controversial due to its potential impact on vulnerable marine ecosystems.

In early 2023, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate published a report concluding that “substantial resources are in place on the seabed” including minerals such as copper, zinc and cobalt.

The Labour-led coalition minority government then in June proposed allowing mining of the country’s seabed in the Arctic region.

In December it announced that it had reached a deal with opposition parties to secure parliamentary support to move forward.

“We need minerals because we want to lead a green transition in the form of fuel cells and solar panels, of electric cars and mobile phones,” Labour member of parliament Marianne Sivertsen Naess told a press conference at the time.

– Knowledge gaps –

NGOs and scientists have meanwhile warned that deep-sea mining could damage habitats and harm species that are little understood, but are potentially
important to the food chain.

In addition, they point to the risk of disrupting the ocean’s capacity to absorb carbon emitted by human activities, and the noise that could disturb species such as whales.

“We are very worried about what this will mean for both ecosystems in the Arctic. What it will mean for the fisheries of both Norway and other countries, and also Norwegians and Norway’s international reputation as a country that is supposed to take climate and nature seriously,” Tjeldflaat Helle said.

The environmental activist added that they were also worried that Norway “chooses this time to send the signal that they will push forward on deep sea mining when the rest of the world is discussing a moratorium or a precautionary pause on this industry.”

Several countries, including France and the UK, have called for a moratorium on deep-sea mining.

The Norwegian plan stresses that “environmental considerations” will be taken into account in all stages of the process and “extraction will only be authorised if the licensee’s extraction plan demonstrates that extraction can take place in a sustainable and responsible manner.”

Among others, Norway’s Institute of Marine Research and the Norwegian Polar Institute have warned that there is a severe lack of knowledge necessary to assess what the environmental impact of deep-sea mining would be.

Currently there is no time schedule for when exploration and later potential mining could begin.

In the proposal, the government stressed that “the fact that the state opens an area for mineral extraction does not mean that extraction activities are initiated immediately.”

Instead it means that licensing authorities can began the process of granting licenses, while the state can “continue the mapping of Norwegian seabed minerals.”

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POLITICS

Norway to boost funding to UN’s Palestinian refugee agency

Norway said Monday that it was increasing its funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) by 100 million kroner ($9.3 million).

Norway to boost funding to UN's Palestinian refugee agency

UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, has been in crisis since January, when Israel accused about a dozen of its 13,000 Gaza employees of involvement in the unprecedented October 7th Hamas attack that sparked the war.

That prompted several countries, including top donor the United States, to suspend funding to the agency, though many have since resumed payments.

“UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza,” Norway’s minister for international development, Anne Beathe Kristiansen Tvinnereim, said in a statement.

“The war, accusations made by Israel, continuous attacks on the organisation and funds withheld by major donors, have put UNRWA in an extremely difficult financial situation,” she said.

An independent review of UNRWA, led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some “neutrality-related issues” but said Israel had yet to provide evidence for its main allegations.

The additional 100 million kroner comes on top of 275 million kroner Norway announced for the agency in February, according to the country’s foreign ministry, which noted that nearly 200 of the agency’s staff had been killed since the start of the war in Gaza.

The war began after Hamas’s October 7th attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,347 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.

Last week, G7 leaders said that UNRWA must be allowed to work unhindered in the war-torn region.

After a summit meeting in Italy last week, the Group of Seven nations called for all parties to facilitate “rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need” in Gaza, particularly women and children.

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