Making Peace with Nature

Arendalsuka event poses tough questions, offering hope for solving the planetary crises in the lead-up to the Norwegian parliamentary elections

By GRID-Arendal

August 19^th, 2021

On Wednesday, 18th August 2021, GRID-Arendal hosted the Arendalsuka event "Making Peace with Nature", a one-hour seminar and panel discussion at the Glass Elevator stage, offering a spectacular backdrop of the town and its islands.

Watch the full event here:

The theme- Making peace with nature - encourages us to think broadly about the pathways we can take forward, the partnerships that will make this change possible, and the tools we have for success. The panel discussion provided a platform to showcase a variety of perspectives including business, politics, science and indigenous voices.

This panel discussion revolved around nature and the solutions it provides to tackle climate, biodiversity and pollution crises to secure a sustainable future. With the Norwegian elections around the corner, questions turned towards what is being done nationally for the environment, as well as what part Norway must play to be part of the solution globally.

The event began with a small introduction from hosts Björn Alfthan, Senior Expert, and Torjus Solheim Eckhoff, Associate Expert on the Polar and Climate team at GRID-Arendal. They opened with discussing the report "Making Peace with Nature", introducing the three planetary crises:

The climate crisis
The biodiversity crisis
The waste and pollution crisis

The first speaker at the event was Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Undersecretary General of the United Nations.

Her full speech is available to read here.

Following up Andersen's speech, Maren Hersleth Holsen, State Secretary of the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, presented the environmental initiatives taken by the Norwegian government in the past year.

You can watch her speech here.

Next, the event proceeded with a panel discussion. Participants (pictured from left to right):

Bård Vegar Solhjell, Director General, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
Lasse Bjørn, Project Manager, Arctic and Environmental Unit, Saami Council
Fridtjof Fossum Unander, Executive Director, Oceans, Energy and Sustainability, The Research Council of Norway
Karen Landmark, Director of Strategic and Business Development, Greenstat AS

Panel Highlights

The transition is difficult in many dimensions. It’s definitely possible, but it won’t be without conflict. And I think it’s time to prepare for that kind of conflict and how we deal with that.

Karen Landmark, Director of Strategic and Business Development, Greenstat AS

I think if we try to engineer ourselves out of this problem, we will reach boundaries time and time again. We’ll have too little copper for example, too little minerals, too few areas to expand. And we have some fundamental issues of how our society is organised. We are using way too much in the West, in Norway, too many of our resources. And we’re taking it from the next generation.

Lasse Bjørn, Project Manager, Arctic and Environmental Unit, Saami Council

It’s very important that we also, in the debate when discussing climate change, focus on what we can do on the demand side, both in terms of technology, but also when it comes to system transformation and behavioural changes.

Fridtjof Fossum Unander, Executive Director, Oceans, Energy and Sustainability, The Research Council of Norway

Civilisation will succeed or fail depending on what we do now and in the next few years.

Bård Vegar Solhjell, Director General, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation

(Referring to the Norwegian party leader debate earlier that week):

To be honest, I was worried. We see the crisis, all three crises, but there are some major parties that I think don't take that seriously enough. But of course, we are a democracy and now it’s election time. I see a change in how people are worried. I think the importance now regarding this topic, “Making Peace with Nature”, is that everyone sees that these things, all three crises, fit together.

Maren Hersleth Holsen, State Secretary of the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment

The private sector cannot solve this problem, it’s too important for that. And as long as the financial system works in a way that the private sector is able to make money out of ruining nature, they will continue to do so. They will probably have some nice project on the side. But the core business is still their core business. And so I think, speaking from the private sector, that it needs regulations and good incentives, and also to work with different institutions in society. Don’t give it only to us.

Karen Landmark, Director of Strategic and Business Development, Greenstat AS

If you look at net-zero scenarios that are maybe quite technology-oriented, they still show that we need to massively increase the rate of energy efficiency in the world. Over the last 10 years, the average rate of improvement of efficiency, sort of the "decoupling factor", has been 1.2% per year. But we need to accelerate that to 4.2% per year. Not in 10, 20, 30 years, but starting from today.

Fridtjof Fossum Unander, Executive Director, Oceans, Energy and Sustainability, The Research Council of Norway

We are losing on every front, we are losing indigenous areas, we are losing traditional areas where we are living, we are using for our traditional livelihoods. It’s something we would call "green colonisation". Because the indigenous areas are the areas far away from the cities, far away from the policymakers, and we are the ones losing time and time again. And when we are losing, nature is also losing.

Lasse Bjørn, Project Manager, Arctic and Environmental Unit, Saami Council

"Remember, we do put a price on nature. But that price is zero."

Bård Vegar Solhjell, Director General, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation

As the hour came to an end, GRID-Arendal Managing Director Peter Harris concluded the panel discussion and thanked the participants, hosts, and audience.