The BlueNature centre will help Norway combine nature conservation and business development along the coast and in the sea, according to SINTEF Ocean.
Photo: NIVA / Trygve Heide, NIVA
Norway is to create a new national research centre focused on sustainable use of nature in marine environments, one of four such initiatives working towards a more sustainable use of nature being established by the Norwegian Research Council this year, backed by almost NOK 500 million in government funding.
The new "BlueNature" centre, led by SINTEF Ocean, is due to begin operations this spring, and will run until 2031 with the possibility of a three-year extension. Senior SINTEF Ocean researcher Ida Beate Øverjordet has been appointed as director.
Announcing the new centre, SINTEF stressed that businesses and municipalities are among the main users of land and natural resources and will thus play a central role in the work of the centre, alongside public authorities and research bodies. The centre will involve 39 partners drawn from across these sectors.
“The goal of the centre is to develop solutions for sustainable land and nature use for marine environments in Norway," explained Vegar Johansen, chief executive of SINTEF Ocean, adding, "The fact that the business community is so well represented increases the chance that the solutions will be put into use.”
Mimmi Throne-Holst, Head of Research at SINTEF Ocean, stressed the importance of maritime environments for Norway's economy. "Ocean areas are at least as important as land areas for Norway. Much of what needs to be further developed, including renewable energy, fisheries and aquaculture, takes place in the ocean. At the same time, we must find good ways to protect the ocean," she argued.
“We need to become more nature-positive by restoring more nature and protecting more. And at the same time, we need to take care of the business community,” added SINTEF Ocean’s Rachel Haug Fossbakk.
Senior researcher Ida Beate Øverjordet at SINTEF Ocean will lead the BlueNature centre.
Photo: Daniel Albert / SINTEF
The BlueNature centre is one of four national research centres being established by the Norwegian government to support more sustainable use of nature and land, with what the authorities describe as the "common goal" of "better knowledge, better tools and a better basis for making more sustainable decisions for the use of nature and land".
The programme has been allocated NOK 452 million over 8 years (approximately EUR 39m / USD 42m), and aims to strengthen the knowledge available to municipalities, businesses and authorities making decisions that affect natural environments.
The other centres launched under the initiative comprise two focused on land use solutions and planning -- the Centre for Innovative Solutions for Sustainable Land Use and Nature Management (INLNAD) and LANDFUTURES: Norwegian Center for Sustainable Land Use Through Transformative Research and Practice -- and the Centre of Biodiversity Forecasting (CBF), which will develop methods that can predict how current land use will affect biodiversity in the future.
In addition to SINTEF Ocean, the BlueNature centre's collaborating partners are the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Akvaplan NIVA, the Norwegian Institute for Natural Resources Research, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Statistics Norway, the University of Tromsø, two international research partners and 27 user partners.
"We must take care of and use the ocean. Then we must develop knowledge and solutions that facilitate good coexistence between industries, and balanced solutions for nature and industries along the coast," said Minister of Fisheries and the Oceans Marianne Sivertsen Næss, in a government release announcing the new centres.
"That is why I am pleased that we now have a blue center for sustainable land management that strengthens the knowledge base for industries such as energy, fisheries, aquaculture and ports along the coast," she added.
