Foreign Minister visits school on World Oceans Day 8 June

At the beginning of this rather unusual lesson for class 1C at the Roald Amundsen upper secondary school in Oppegård municipality, south east of Oslo, four pupils presented climate and environment projects that they had been working on this year. Mr Brende then spoke about the importance of the oceans both for Norway and the whole world, and highlighted the environmental threats that are facing them.

The class were particularly interested in climate change and how to reduce the huge volumes of rubbish, not least all the plastic debris, that end up in the oceans. Many good questions were raised.

‘Ensuring sustainable management of the oceans at the same time as making good use of the opportunities they offer is a high priority for the Government. This includes addressing the build-up of rubbish in the oceans, and Norway has taken a leading role in the international efforts in this field. I will take the input from these young people with me to the Our Ocean conference in Washington D.C. in September,’ said Mr Brende.