8 International cooperation on sustainable ocean management

Sustainable use of the ocean and sustainable management of ocean resources form a key element of Norway’s foreign and development policy. Norway’s ocean management plans have provided inspiration for many of our partner countries and for the work of the High-level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel). Sustainable use of ocean space is crucial for achieving a number of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically numbers 2, 4, 14 and 17. In the case of SDG 14, which is ‘to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development’, it is vital to continue efforts in international forums to promote the importance of integrated, sustainable ocean management.

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is the international legal framework for all ocean-related activities. As a responsible steward of the ocean and marine resources, Norway supports and acts in accordance with the Convention. Pressures on marine ecosystems are often transboundary in nature. This means that problems must be resolved through international efforts, such as those designed to combat plastic pollution. In addition, Norwegian activities that support capacity-building in developing countries make an important contribution to ensuring a clean and productive ocean.

In addition to taking part in formal international ocean-related processes, Norway has assumed a leading role in other forums for the ocean and sustainable ocean management, particularly as co-chair of the Ocean Panel, in developing a global agreement on plastic pollution and in the implementation of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030).

8.1 Status and developments in international ocean governance

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, provides the international legal framework for all ocean-related activities, and is sometimes known as the ‘constitution of the ocean’. It sets out a general duty for states to cooperate at global and regional level on the protection and preservation of the marine environment. Norway shares ecosystems and important marine resources with other countries, and bilateral and regional cooperation is therefore an essential basis for sound ocean management. Norway has played a key role in the development of regional fisheries and ocean management organisations, which are important channels for promoting Norwegian policies and ocean interests. We have also played a part in the development of similar organisations in other parts of the world.

Norway’s main priorities for global developments in the Law of the Sea are the implementation of the new UN Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (the BBNJ Agreement) once it has entered into force, ensuring the legitimacy and effectiveness of the work of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, the ongoing negotiations on the development of a regulatory regime for seabed mineral activities under the International Seabed Authority, capacity building measures for developing countries, safeguarding the marine environment more widely, scientifically based sustainable use of ocean resources, the negotiations on a new global instrument on plastic pollution, and action to combat plastic pollution.

The new BBNJ Agreement

The new BBNJ Agreement was formally adopted by consensus in June 2023. Norway signed the agreement when it was opened for signature on 20 September 2023. As of 1 February 2024, 87 states had signed the agreement, and two (Chile and Palau) had ratified it. The agreement will enter into force once 60 states have ratified it. The Government plans to submit the agreement to the Storting (Norwegian parliament) as soon as possible to obtain its consent to ratification, with a view to ensuring Norwegian ratification at the latest by the 2025 UN Ocean Conference. The BBNJ Agreement puts in place effective measures to implement the rules of UNCLOS on conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, in other words areas outside states’ 200 nautical-mile zones and their continental shelves. The BBNJ Agreement will be an important tool for establishing marine protected areas (MPAs) and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) in areas outside national jurisdiction. This will be valuable in achieving the global target of protection of at least 30 % of the global ocean, which is a political target that Norway has also adopted. The negotiations on the BBNJ Agreement produced a satisfactory result in Norway’s view, and it will uphold Norway’s main interests. The fact that the agreement was adopted by consensus reinforces its legitimacy.

Negotiations on a regulatory regime for seabed mineral activities

The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is responsible for negotiations on a regulatory regime for seabed mineral activities in the ‘Area’, i.e. the seabed beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. At its meeting in July 2023, the Council of the ISA agreed on a timeline for continuing its work. The aim is to finalise the regulations in the course of 2024 and adopt them during the 30th session of the Council in 2025. Norway will work in good faith in line with this. Norway’s general position in the negotiations is that a regulatory regime must be based on robust environmental standards, including the precautionary principle, and must include effective mechanisms for inspection, compliance and enforcement, and an equitable financial mechanism which safeguards developing countries’ interests, as required by UNCLOS.

UN General Assembly resolutions on oceans and the law of the sea and on sustainable fisheries

Norway takes part in the annual negotiations on the UN General Assembly resolution on oceans and the law of the sea. This is an important arena where Norway can demonstrate its position as a responsible coastal state that can be relied on to support and implement UNCLOS, and as a responsible steward of the oceans and marine resources. The negotiations are also an opportunity for Norway to highlight the priority it gives to the work of safeguarding the marine environment, for example efforts to combat plastic pollution and Norway’s contributions to capacity building in developing countries. It is important to ensure that practice within traditional areas of the Law of the Sea (for example in UN specialised agencies and regional fisheries management organisations) develops in accordance with the provisions of UNCLOS. One of Norway’s main aims in all work on issues relating to the Law of the Sea is to ensure that the UNCLOS system is strengthened and developed as the main legal framework for all activity in the marine sector. The resolution on sustainable fisheries further develops requirements for responsible fisheries management by states and regional fisheries management organisations. The current geopolitical situation is affecting international fisheries management, making it more difficult to incorporate general environmental principles and decisions into the fisheries management system.

The ocean and global climate negotiations

Since 2020, an annual ocean and climate change dialogue has been held each year under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as mandated by COP25 in Madrid. At COP26 in Glasgow, during the annual Earth Information Day, researchers highlighted the need to expand knowledge about the links between climate change and the oceans. The importance of marine ecosystems as sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases was emphasised in the Glasgow Climate Pact. A decision by COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh formalised the ocean and climate change dialogue and decided that future dialogues would have two co-facilitators to decide on topics and report from the dialogue. In addition, parties were encouraged to consider ocean-based action in their national climate goals and long-term climate strategies. At COP28, the key outcome was the conclusion of the first global stocktake under the Paris Agreement. The decision on the global stocktake calls on parties to preserve and restore the ocean and coastal ecosystems and to scale up ocean-based mitigation action. It also highlights the fact that ocean-based adaptation can reduce a range of climate change risks.

Climate-related decisions by the International Maritime Organization (IMO)

Norway chaired the negotiations that resulted in a historic decision by IMO on 7 July 2023, when it adopted the common ambition of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping by 2050. IMO’s revised climate strategy includes checkpoints for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping in 2030 and 2040, to reach net-zero in 2050. In the seven years up to 2030, total emissions from international shipping are to be reduced by 20–30 % compared to 2008. In addition, between 5–10 % of the energy used by shipping is to be from zero-emission sources by 2030. By 2040, international shipping is to reduce emissions by 70–80 % compared to 2008. To support efforts to achieve these goals, Norway will support the GreenVoyage2050 project, providing a total of NOK 210 million in the period 2024–2030. The project is intended to help developing countries to make the transition to low- and zero-emission shipping, both as part of their development generally and to ensure progress towards IMO’s ambition of achieving net-zero emissions from shipping in 2050.

Global cooperation on biodiversity

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was adopted in December 2022 at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The purpose of the Global Diversity Framework is to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. It includes a global target for 2030 of ensuring that ‘… at least 30 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas, and of marine and coastal areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are effectively conserved and managed through ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, …’. Norway is a member of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, which is working towards this target. Another target of the Global Diversity Framework is to ‘ensure that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of areas of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and marine and coastal ecosystems are under effective restoration, …’. Ocean ecosystems are included in the Framework in the same way as other ecosystems. The Government will follow up the Biodiversity Framework by preparing a new biodiversity action plan and presenting it to the Storting in the form of a white paper. The white paper will describe the contributions Norway intends to make to achieving the global targets.

Global cooperation on pollution and marine litter

In 2022, the UN Environment Assembly decided to start negotiations with a view to establishing a new independent intergovernmental body in 2024, to provide information on chemicals and waste management and pollution prevention. This is to be a science-policy panel, modelled on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The new science-policy panel will play a crucial role in developing recommendations for new policy and legislation for preventing pollution from chemicals and waste globally. It is a general problem that research results are not adequately communicated to decision makers, who in turn do not communicate clearly enough to scientists the kinds of information they need. The panel will provide robust, independent information and submit scientific recommendations in all relevant areas, to support the work of UN bodies, global conventions and other multilateral agreements, national authorities and the private sector.

The 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) is a key instrument that regulates or prohibits the use of the most dangerous substances, thus preventing the spread of substances that resist degradation, bioaccumulate along food chains and are transported across long distances through air and ocean currents. Norway played a key role in the adoption of the convention, and has proposed a number of additional POPs for listing under the convention, so that their use can be prohibited.

The 2013 Minamata Convention is a global agreement with aim of reducing and ultimately eliminating releases of mercury.

In 2023, agreement was reached on the Global Framework on Chemicals (GFC). It was adopted as a new voluntary framework to encourage cooperation on global action in the field of chemicals and waste management, including the many substances that are not covered by globally binding instruments. The GFC includes a number of targets that supplement the SDGs and are to be achieved by 2030 or 2035.

Norway has been working for some years to strengthen the international framework to reduce and eliminate marine litter and plastic waste. In 2022, the UN Environment Assembly agreed to convene a negotiating committee to develop a legally binding global instrument to end plastic pollution, with the aim of completing the process by the end of 2024. Norway is playing a leading role in efforts to achieve a binding, effective global instrument, and together with Rwanda is co-chairing the High Ambition Coalition to end Plastic Pollution. The coalition is seeking to develop an effective global instrument with the aim of ending plastic pollution by 2040, and including commitments that will reduce the production and consumption of primary plastics to sustainable levels. The agreement must include releases from all ocean- and land-based sources; measures to phase out certain plastic materials, chemical additives and plastic products; and measures to increase recycling of plastics and minimise quantities of plastic waste. It is also intended to encourage sustainable waste management and prevent releases of microplastics. Norway is also chairing work relating to a global plastics agreement under the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Photo: Naja Bertolt Jensen/Ocean Image Bank

Norwegian support for global cooperation on the marine environment

Norway played an active role in the establishment of the PROBLUE multi-donor trust fund in the World Bank system in 2019, and co-chaired the fund’s Partnership Council until summer 2022. PROBLUE’s overall goal is to achieve integrated, sustainable economic development and a clean and healthy ocean. Its main focus areas are sustainable fisheries and aquaculture; marine litter and pollution management; sustainable development of key oceanic sectors; and building government capacity for integrated management of marine and coastal resources. PROBLUE plays a key role in Norwegian funding of measures to combat marine litter and follow-up of the Ocean Panel’s call for sustainable ocean management. Other donors to the fund are Australia, Canada, Denmark, the EU, Iceland, France, Germany, Ireland, the UK, the US and Sweden. PROBLUE is now in a transitional phase from largely performing analytical work to engaging in large-scale technical activities in cooperation with other parts of the World Bank system.

Since 2019, Norway has been cooperating with IMO and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on the GloLitter Partnerships project. The purpose of the project is to assist developing countries in ratifying and implementing the IMO MARPOL Convention, in exchanging experience with other countries in their region, and in developing national action plans to deal with ocean-based sources of marine litter. Norway is also following up the IMO action plan on marine plastic litter as part of its regional cooperation on the marine environment under OSPAR, and is involved in the development of a regional action plan on marine litter under the Arctic Council.

Norway also works within the framework of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which has a wide-ranging mandate covering the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. UNEP’s work on the marine environment, including the Regional Seas Programme, aims to reinforce environmental efforts through a regional approach. UNEP runs several global initiatives for the conservation, protection and sustainable management of blue ecosystems. Norway considers it important for UNEP to take an integrated, knowledge-based approach to work on the marine environment, which should also be in line with UNCLOS, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the BBNJ Agreement, the recommendations of the Ocean Panel, and the principles underlying the Norwegian ocean management plans. UNEP plays an important role as the secretariat for the negotiations on a new global instrument to combat plastic pollution.

8.2 The Ocean Panel and the goal of 100 % sustainable ocean management

Norway has played a part in raising awareness internationally about the key links between the state of the ocean and economic development, both as co-chair of the Ocean Panel and through other work within the Panel. Norway was one of the countries that took the initiative for the Panel’s work on sustainable ocean plans, for which Norway’s ocean management plans have served as a model.

The work of the Ocean Panel has raised international awareness of how the oceans can provide many of the solutions to global issues – for example access to renewable energy, nature-based solutions to climate change, food security and value creation. Marine ecosystems and resources are public goods that must be managed responsibly. The members of the Ocean Panel, including Norway, have made a political commitment to achieve sustainable management of 100 % of the ocean area under national jurisdiction by 2025, guided by sustainable ocean plans. The goal is for all countries that are members of the Ocean Panel to have such plans in place by 2025, and for all coastal and ocean states to do so by 2030. Over the past three years, France, the Seychelles, the UK and the US have joined the Ocean Panel, and have adopted the same political commitment to develop sustainable ocean plans within five years of joining. Once the 18 members of the Ocean Panel have finalised and implemented their plans, there will be an integrated, sustainable management regime for about 50 % of the total area of exclusive economic zones in the ocean.

Source: Ocean Panel

Since 2020, the Ocean Panel has been focusing on the action needed to ensure sustainable ocean management and national follow-up. The member states of the Ocean Panel are developing sustainable ocean plans for waters under their national jurisdiction. In support of this, the Ocean Panel has published a guide and introduction to sustainable ocean plans, and has held several events where countries and key scientific and technical bodies can exchange experience. There is widespread interest in the Norwegian model and the experience Norway has gained.

8.3 International initiatives to promote integrated ocean management

UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development – knowledge-based ocean management

The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC) was tasked by the UN General Assembly with coordinating the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030). Its purpose is to promote and coordinate ocean research activities at national and global level. The recently appointed Executive Secretary of UNESCO-IOC, Vidar Helgesen, is Norwegian. The IOC is an important channel for the world’s ocean and coastal states as they follow up the Ocean Panel’s recommendations and implement sustainable ocean plans.

The Ocean Secretariat in the Research Council of Norway is responsible for coordinating Norwegian efforts relating to the UN Decade of Ocean Science. A National Ocean Decade Committee has been established including representatives of research institutes, the business sector and voluntary organisations. Norway is also a member of the Ocean Decade Alliance, and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre is one of its patrons.

The purpose of the Ocean Decade Alliance is to raise awareness of the UN Decade, and to catalyse support so that the Ocean Decade can achieve its vision of ‘the science we need for the ocean we want'. A wide range of Norwegian research groups and other stakeholders are actively involved in UNESCO-IOC’s work in connection with the Ocean Decade and other ocean-related activities.

Since 2020, Norway has allocated about NOK 10 million a year from the aid budget to the UNESCO-IOC Secretariat. Half of this has been earmarked for capacity building in developing countries, and the rest for the Ocean Decade. Norway has for example supported coordination of Ocean Decade activities in Pacific small island developing states (SIDS).

The 2024 Ocean Decade Conference is being held in April 2024 in Barcelona in Spain. This is an opportunity both to present results from the first few years of the decade and to look ahead to the rest of the period up to 2030. One aim is to formulate agreed measures of success for each of the challenges identified for the Ocean Decade. This is part of the Vision 2030 process, in which Norway is playing a key role. This conference and the major UN Ocean Conference to be held in Nice in France in 2025 are being closely coordinated.

Photo: Erling Svensen

UN Decade of Action on Nutrition – a healthy ocean means a healthy population

Under SDG 2, the world has adopted the goal of ending hunger and malnutrition and ensuring sustainable food production. To ensure progress towards this goal, the period 2016–2025 was announced as the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition. Boosting the sustainable production, harvesting and consumption of aquatic food can make it easier to achieve the aims of SDG 2. Aquatic food provides essential nutrients for a growing population. Norway’s seas and oceans play an important role for national food security. In addition, Norwegian expertise and experience can play a part in stimulating production, harvesting and consumption of aquatic food internationally. As part of the Nutrition Decade, Norway has established the Action Network for Sustainable Food from the Oceans and Inland Waters for Food Security and Nutrition, and has sought to coordinate work on the two UN decades. Although the Nutrition Decade comes to an end in 2025, Norway has decided that the Global Action Network will continue until 2030.

Norway is supporting the proposal for a new independent expert report to be produced on sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in connection with the 2024 plenary session of the Committee on World Food Security. It is ten years since the previous report on aquatic food was published. Norway’s strategy for promoting food security in development policy, Combining forces against hunger – a policy to improve food self-sufficiency, also recognises that aquatic food is an important factor for improving food security in developing countries.

The UN Ocean Conferences and progress towards SDG 14: life below water

There is emerging international consensus on a description of the state of the ocean, what we must do to protect the ocean better, and how to ensure that we can continue to use ocean resources sustainably in the future. Norway has maintained a clear, strong profile on sustainable ocean management at the UN Ocean Conferences, most recently in Lisbon in 2022. The next conference is at the planning stage, and it will be held in Nice in June 2025, co-hosted by France and Costa Rica. The main themes of the conference will be financing of the blue economy and knowledge-based ocean management. Costa Rica is responsible for organising a high-level event on ocean action in the run-up to the conference, in June 2024.

The Ocean Conference in Nice will represent an important milestone for the work of the Ocean Panel. In 2025, its members are to report on progress towards their political commitment to ensure sustainable management of 100 % of ocean areas under national jurisdiction, guided by sustainable ocean plans. It is hoped that the conference will inspire all ocean and coastal nations to do the same by 2030.

8.4 Regional cooperation on shared ocean areas

International interest in the Arctic has been growing. Norway is chair of the Arctic Council for the period 2023–2025, and is seeking to maintain the council’s position as the chief platform for international cooperation in the Arctic. The oceans are one of the priority topics for Norway’s chairship. The combination of increasing activity, rapid climate change and loss of sea ice is putting growing pressure on the marine environment in the Arctic. To ensure ocean health and productivity and strengthen the sustainability of Arctic ocean industries, Norway will maintain the focus on integrated ocean management in the work of the Arctic Council. During its chairship, Norway will continue the development of tools for ocean management, cooperate on the protection of ice-dependent species and ecosystems, develop Arctic observation systems, take action to combat marine litter, and strengthen cooperation on emergency preparedness and safe shipping in the Arctic, and green shipping initiatives.

Ecosystem-based ocean management is encouraged in Arctic Council’s 2021 strategic plan, and is one of the approaches underpinning the Arctic Marine Strategic Plan for 2015–2025, which sets out goals and principles for the Council’s work on the marine environment. As Chair of the Arctic Council, it is important for Norway to support and play a part in the continued development of ecosystem-based ocean management.

The EPPR working group of the Arctic Council is responsible for emergency prevention, preparedness and response for environmental disasters and other emergencies. The eight Arctic states have also concluded agreements on search and rescue and on oil spill preparedness and response. During Norway’s chairship of the Arctic Council, Arctic cooperation on sustainable shipping and risk reduction measures related to the growing volume of shipping in the Arctic is being strengthened. The Arctic Council will seek closer cooperation with the Arctic Coast Guard Forum and further develop cooperation on maritime and aeronautical search and rescue, oil spill preparedness and response and the response to nuclear/radiological accidents at sea through initiatives and exercises.

Norway is the host country for the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO), and the secretariat is located in Tromsø. The members of NAMMCO are Norway, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, while Russia and Canada are observer countries. In 2023, Japan and NAMMCO signed a letter of intent on cooperation. Norway has leading expertise in international scientific research on the whale populations in the North Atlantic. NAMMCO is committed to sustainable and responsible use of all living marine resources by developing effective conservation and management measures for marine mammals, while also acknowledging the rights and needs of coastal communities. Sustainable use of marine mammals by coastal communities helps to lower their environmental footprint, improve people’s livelihoods and reinforces efforts to achieve the SDGs.

The Greater North Sea Basin Initiative (GNSBI) was established in November 2023 to expand cooperation across sectors and countries to ensure sustainable use of the North Sea basin (for energy, food and transport) and at the same time meet goals for the conservation and restoration of ecosystems. Cooperation under the initiative is not legally binding. Cooperation will include knowledge sharing on relevant topics and other ocean-related cooperation as agreed by the parties.

Norway is also a member of the North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC), which is a voluntary forum for cooperation on offshore wind power and infrastructure. Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the European Commission are currently members of the NSEC. Norway has been a member of this cooperation forum since 2016.

Norway is engaged in fisheries cooperation with a number of countries. Norwegian-Russian cooperation on the fisheries in the Barents Sea goes back to 1974 and 1975, when the first agreements were negotiated. The Joint Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission was established under these agreements. Every year, recommendations on total allowable catches (TACs) for the relevant stocks are made on the basis of advice from Norwegian and Russian scientists. In October 2023, Norway and Russia concluded a fisheries agreement for 2024, from which quotas to third countries are set. Even given the current geopolitical situation, it is crucially important to continue this fisheries cooperation.

Research cooperation with Russian scientists is also important. Russia’s membership of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has been suspended, but there is considerable marine and fisheries research activity in the Russian zone, and Russian scientists share their raw data with Norwegian researchers.

Through the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC), Norway and the other North Sea and Norwegian Sea coastal states agree on annual TACs for the pelagic species blue whiting, Norwegian spring-spawning herring and mackerel. Although agreement has been reached on the TACs, it has not been possible to agree on quotas for each of the NEAFC member countries. As a result, Norway and other coastal states have set quotas unilaterally, and several of the pelagic stocks have been overfished. The members of NEAFC are Norway, the UK, the EU, Denmark (in respect of the Faroe Islands and Greenland), Iceland and Russia.

Norway is an active participant under the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment in the North-East Atlantic (the OSPAR Convention). Fourteen other states and the EU are also parties to the Convention, and a number of organisations are observers. In 2021, the OSPAR Commission adopted the North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy 2030, which describes joint action to tackle the triple threat facing the marine environment: biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change. The strategy also highlights the importance of regional cooperation in ensuring the effective protection and sustainable use of our shared seas. In 2023, OSPAR published its flagship report Quality Status Report 2023, which gives a thorough, detailed overview of the environmental status of the North-East Atlantic and developments since the previous report was published in 2010. The report concludes that a great deal remains to be done to avoid further biodiversity loss and tackle the causes of environmental degradation.

International interest in Arctic research has been growing. To maintain Norway’s leading position in research in the region, we need detailed, updated knowledge about the Arctic Ocean. Norwegian interests are upheld through research and by maintaining activity and a presence in the Arctic Ocean. The Government supports Norwegian research activity and initiatives in the Arctic Ocean.

GoNorth is one such initiative. Its purpose is to organise a series of scientific expeditions to investigate the seabed and subsea geology, the water column and the sea ice. GoNorth partners include a number of universities and research institutes: the universities of Bergen, Oslo and Tromsø, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the University Centre in Svalbard, Akvaplan-niva, the Geological Survey of Norway, NORCE, NORSAR, the Norwegian Polar Institute, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, the Nansen Center and SINTEF. GoNorth has been allocated NOK 30 million from the national budget to organise expeditions in the period 2022–2024. It has also received a total of NOK 12 million for operating and development costs for the project, provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Education and Research and channelled through the Research Council of Norway.

Photo: Arctic Council Secretariat/Jessica Cook

A new Norwegian initiative on the Arctic Ocean of the future is being developed to build up more knowledge about climate change, the environment, political and industrial developments and resources in the Arctic Ocean in the years ahead. The consortium behind the initiative includes Norwegian universities, research institutes and administrative bodies that have scientific expertise and interest in developments in the Arctic Ocean. The Research Council of Norway has allocated funding for a pre-project, to be completed by the end of 2024.

The European Green Deal is the EU’s comprehensive plan for a green transition, involving a commitment to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 % by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by 2050. Priorities in the European Green Deal include many ocean-related actions and cover a range of different areas, from protecting biodiversity and ecosystems and reducing pollution of air, water and soil to making the transition to a circular economy, improving waste management and ensuring the sustainability of fisheries and the blue economy.

Ocean management in the Antarctic

Norway is one of the countries that maintains a territorial claim in Antarctica, and its interests are best safeguarded through smoothly functioning, robust international cooperation under the Antarctic Treaty. Norway maintains a presence in the Antarctic as a research nation, an environmental and maritime nation, and a leading industrial stakeholder.

Norway has played a key part in developing the Antarctic Treaty system, and has also had an important role in developing regional management mechanisms and organisations, including the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).

For more than 40 years, Norway has been actively involved in CCAMLR’s efforts to manage the ecosystems and fisheries in the vulnerable Antarctic waters both effectively and sustainably. The Government considers it important for Norway to maintain its efforts so that CCAMLR continues to lead the way in the development of credible, effective management regimes. Norway is therefore giving high priority to CCAMLR’s work on the development of a dynamic approach to managing the krill fisheries, which can also respond to new challenges arising as a result of climate change. Norway has also been playing a central role in efforts to establish a network of marine protected areas around Antarctica, and has submitted a proposal to establish a marine protected area (Weddell Sea MPA Phase 2) in Haakon VII Sea (off Dronning Maud Land). The proposal was submitted for consideration during CCAMLR’s annual meeting in Hobart, Tasmania in October 2023. CCAMLR is a consensus-based organisation, and it takes time to reach agreement on the protection of large ocean areas. During 2024, Norway will further develop its proposal, and will invite the active involvement of other CCAMLR members.

Norway is the largest fisheries nation in the Southern Ocean measured by catch volume. Two large krill fishing companies, Aker Biomarine and Rimfrost AS, are active in the area. Norway sets the same requirements for sound resource management in Antarctic waters as in other areas where vessels from the Norwegian fishing fleet operate. Bouvet Island, a Norwegian dependency, is situated north of the Antarctic Treaty area. However, the waters around Bouvet Island, outside the territorial waters, are part of the CAMLR Convention area.

Fisheries crime and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU fishing)

IUU fishing is a serious threat to marine resources and creates challenges for communities and countries around the world.

Norway has considerably intensified its efforts to combat IUU fishing in recent years, for example by increasing support to the UN and civil society organisations in order to strengthen expertise and capacity in developing countries. It is particularly challenging to tackle IUU fishing in areas where there is little monitoring and inspection by national authorities. IUU fishing is therefore often a problem in remote parts of the high seas, in areas where organising cooperation between fisheries nations proves to be difficult, and where the coastal state has insufficient economic resources and capacity to ensure effective monitoring and inspection systems in its economic zone.

After IUU fishing in the Barents Sea was brought under control during the 2000s, it was recognised that a focus on transnational organised crime in the global fishing industry was also needed. Norway considered this to be an important approach because the Norwegian fishing industry is very globalised and needs to be able to operate in a market that is as equitable as possible. To support these efforts, Norway, together with eight other coastal states, adopted the International Declaration on Transnational Organized Crime in the Global Fishing Industry at a conference in Copenhagen in 2018. The declaration has now been endorsed by 61 states, accounting for almost 37 % of the total area of exclusive economic zones in the world. The declaration has become an important political framework, providing guidance on what fisheries crime is and how we should address it.

Norway followed up the declaration by launching the Blue Justice initiative in 2019, at the Our Ocean conference in Oslo. Through the initiative, Norway funds capacity building for efforts to combat fisheries crime in developing countries. The initiative is being followed up by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The initiative works with international partners including the UN Development Fund (UNDP), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). The initiative provides some shared tools that all partner countries can access. In 2023, Norway launched the Blue Justice Ocean Surveillance Programme, which provides AIS tracking data gathered from Norwegian microsatellites. Countries will also have access to expertise in vessel monitoring at the Blue Justice initiative’s international vessel tracking centre, which is the analysis unit at the Vardø Vessel Traffic Service, run jointly by the Directorate of Fisheries and the Norwegian Coastal Administration. Countries will be able to use the Ocean Surveillance Programme to monitor activities in their own waters. They will also be able to track their own vessels globally, which will strengthen flag states’ efforts to combat IUU fishing and to comply with their international obligations.

Norway has provided substantial support to UNODC and the FishNET project, which has both enhanced awareness and built up capacity for combating various forms of crime linked to the fishing industry internationally. Action ranges from strengthening the legal and policy framework to criminal prosecution and law enforcement, increasing the capacity of customs authorities, providing assistance to identify areas where there is a risk of corruption and taking action to reduce undue influence and risk.

Fish for Development, which is one of the aid programmes included in Norad’s Knowledge Bank, has provided support for a regional fisheries management organisation called the Fisheries Committee for The West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) through TMT, a Norwegian non-profit organisation. The funding goes to a project involving national authorities in the region, and has strengthened capacity, resulting in closer cooperation between countries, including vessel tracking and analyses of illegal fishing.

Norway also provides substantial funding for FAO to assist developing countries in implementing the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), an international agreement to combat IUU fishing. Seventy-six countries are now parties to the agreement.

8.5 Intensifying efforts to promote sustainable ocean management in partner countries

Norway’s model for ocean management plans has provided inspiration for a number of countries we cooperate with, and is often highlighted internationally as an example for others to follow. Sharing Norwegian experience and expertise has for many years been particularly important in the field of development cooperation. Sound ocean management and good governance generally are closely related, and development assistance in this area therefore requires a long-term approach.

Through two programmes in the Norad Knowledge Bank, Fish for Development and Oceans for Development, Norway is assisting a number of developing countries to put in place sustainable ocean and fisheries management regimes. Both programmes make use of Norwegian experience and public-sector expertise, and are based on scientific cooperation and sharing of knowledge and experience. Norway’s aid is helping to boost expertise and capacity in the public administration in partner countries to ensure sustainable fisheries, healthy ecosystems and a sustainable ocean economy. In addition, Norway supports multilateral partners such as FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Bank system, and also civil society organisations.

Fish for Development was established in 2016 with the objective of increasing the ability of fisheries and aquaculture to contribute to socio-economic development in partner countries, for example through higher employment and better food and nutrition security. Programme activities are intended to help public authorities to build up their capacity for sustainable management; encourage research and educational institutions to assist the authorities and businesses with knowledge, data and advice about sustainable fisheries and aquaculture; and ensure that businesses exploit fisheries resources and engage in aquaculture production in a sustainable manner. The largest area of investment under Fish for Development is the EAF-Nansen programme, which uses the research vessel Dr. Fridtjof Nansen and involves cooperation between Norad, FAO and the Institute of Marine Research.

The primary goal of Oceans for Development is to contribute to more sustainable and inclusive ocean economies in partner countries. The programme forms part of Norway’s international work on ocean-related issues, and is an important tool for implementing the Ocean Panel’s recommendations. It is closely integrated with the Fish for Development programme. Indonesia and Mozambique are pilot countries for this initiative, and Kenya and Ghana are potential partners.

The development programme to combat marine litter and microplastics was established in 2018 and lasts until 2024. Its objective is to prevent and greatly reduce the scale of marine litter originating from major sources in developing countries. A mid-term review concluded that the programme has largely met its targets and has provided a moderate to large contribution to preventing and reducing marine litter. The programme also played a crucial role in the establishment of the GloLitter Partnerships project, which involves cooperation between IMO and FAO and is largely funded by Norway.

Source: Norad

Norway also supports the Blue Action Fund, a non-profit foundation that channels investment for new marine protected areas, improved management of existing MPAs and sustainable livelihoods in communities in and around MPAs. So far, the fund has supported the establishment of new MPAs covering a total area of 147 944 km², and more effective management of existing MPAs covering 231 387 km².

Norway has strengthened bilateral ocean-related cooperation with several partner countries. In 2018, a process to formalise an ocean dialogue with China was started. China has a large maritime sector and a fishing fleet with a global reach. It is a major producer of food from the ocean, but also responsible for substantial marine pollution. Indonesia is a member of the Ocean Panel and has one of the world’s longest coastlines. It is the largest recipient of funding from the development programme to combat marine litter and microplastics, and a pilot country for the Oceans for Development programme. We are working to establish a formal ocean dialogue with Indonesia as a framework for our extensive ocean-related cooperation. As a member of the Ocean Panel, Indonesia has a responsibility to promote the Panel’s work at regional level, and Norway is supporting Indonesia’s work on this in the ASEAN region.

Norway and India are engaged in a bilateral cooperation project on sustainable ocean plans. The blue economy is one of the priorities of the current Indian government. A formal ocean dialogue and an India-Norway task force on the blue economy were established in 2019. The main elements of this cooperation are marine litter and sustainable ocean management, and it also includes green shipping, marine research, fisheries and aquaculture.

Chile is a member of the Ocean Panel, and has recently completed its sustainable ocean plan. The ocean dialogue between Norway and Chile includes the exchange of experience from work on ocean management plans in both countries.