Greenhouse gas emissions have decreased by about 13 percent from 1990, and in 2013 amounted to just over 8 percent of the Norwegian greenhouse gas emissions. A Project Group reviewing agriculture challenges in the face of climate change has concluded that, including emissions from transport, construction and land, the further potential for emission reduction from today and until 2030 is estimated to be near 20 percent.
According to the Project Group there are two main strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector: lower consumption volume and a change in composition of food consumption, and reducing emissions within the same production volume.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Jon Georg Dale said that the Project Group report will be read with attention and is an important input for the government’s continued work on climate change:
– The agriculture sector has already made significant cuts in their emissions, an impressive 13 percent since 1990. Furthermore, the report concludes that industry, through various measures, can cut as much as 20 percent by 2030. Demanding, yes; but an important goal to reach for. It is necessary to maintain momentum in the climate debate in the years to come. This report, together with other documentation, provides a solid fact base for political choice, Jon Georg Dale says.
The Project Group is convinced that the general contours of Norwegian climate policy for the agricultural sector capture important initiatives and priority areas as described in the IPCC’s 5th Assessment Report. It is nevertheless clear that the current level of effort will fail to achieve the full potential for emission reductions and increased uptake rapidly enough. The measures listed in the report should be investigated further to find the cost of the measures, feasibility and relevant instruments. Once ready, more vigorous and targeted measures are required to ensure that Norwegian agriculture can continue to meet the Parliament’s goal of food production nationwide, while Norwegian agriculture contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions both in its own sector and in other sectors of society. When we include reductions of emissions from transport, buildings and land, the further potential for emission reduction is estimated to be near 20 percent from today until 2030.
The Project Group notes that Norwegian food production is a function of the national resource base, and that it is not possible to produce food without any greenhouse gas emissions. Biological processes in agriculture cannot be replaced in the same way as processes based on non-renewable raw materials and fossil-based production systems.
Climate Action
The Project Group identifies two main strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector:
Changed volume and composition of food consumption
Reduce emissions within the same production volume (optimize production)
In addition, efforts must be made to reduce CO2 emissions from the use of soil and fossil energy in agriculture, is another of the Project Group’s conclusions. Reduced production of red meat in Norway will reduce Norwegian emissions, but this could at the same time lead to increased emissions in other countries, if, presuming stable consumption, a national shortfall is compensated by imports.
The Project Group reviewed existing climate measures in Norwegian agriculture, and collected and assessed new knowledge.
The role of forests
Another great potential for national climate action is to exploit forest resources. In line with the recommendations of the IPCC, the Project Group believes that the role of forests as a carbon sink can be substantially improved by targeted reforestation and other measures that promote forest productivity. Renewable energy and raw materials from the forest can displace fossil fuel emissions in other sectors. The use of biofuels in the transport sector, the use of bioenergy and building materials in the building sector and the use of biochar as a reducing agent in the industry, are examples of this. Many of the scenarios that underlie IPCC low emission vectors assume negative emissions from approximately 2050, and photosynthesis remains the basis of all hitherto known carbon negative technologies.
Negative emissions can be achieved by large-scale reforestation, storage of biochar in the soil or by the use of bioenergy combined with capture and storage of CO2.
Adapting to a changed climate
The Project Group points out that climate change can provide new opportunities for production that farmers will exploit, but also that the change will result in great uncertainty. Climate change could also provide new opportunities for the forest production industry and society to exploit, but forestry will face tough challenges when production is to be adapted, not least because forestry by nature must aim at a long term economic cycle, as detailed in the report. Development of both adaptive technology, research-based and practical agronomy and forestry knowledge is a prerequisite for success in the face of increasing challenges. The Project Group considers that Norway probably yet is better equipped than most countries to cope with this, because we have wide access to resources, a solid knowledge base and a well-organized management.
Further research required
Climate challenges in the agricultural sector are complex, and the report identifies a considerable knowledge gap. The present development where new research, technology and knowledge is utilized is among the most important measures that can be implemented to reduce the climate impact of agriculture. The Project Group notes that in research which includes climate impacts and adaptations in primary industries, there should be special emphasis on the development of knowledge about issues such as carbon storage in soils, methane and nitrous oxide emissions, better economic calculations of costs of various climate measures in agriculture, while at the same time keeping in view the consequences that climate measures may have on food production.
The Project Group unanimously endorses the content of the report.
(mfa)
The Norwegian parliament has adopted a number of legislative amendments to ensure a more sustainable asylum policy and strengthen border control. These were approved by the King in Council today. The Ministry is now considering the need for transitional rules and regulations for the period until the amendments come into force.
The police suspect one of Trondheim’s most prominent real estate companies of fraud for tens of million, according to the newspaper Adresseavisen.
‘I am very pleased that the parties to the conflict have now reached agreement on the key issue in the negotiations: laying down of arms and a definitive bilateral ceasefire and end of hostilities. After nearly four years of tough negotiations, we are now finally approaching an end to this conflict,’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende said.
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in Abuja said Nigeria and Norway, a major fish exporting country, would work together to deepen their agricultural cooperation, particularly on fish farming and fisheries development.
On Wednesday, June 22, coinciding with a visit by the Iranian regime’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to France and the Netherlands, and simultaneous with the global conference against the death penalty with the participation of more than 90 countries in Oslo, officials of the mullahs’ regime in Iran have sent two prisoners by the names of Farzad Bizhani and Farhad Souri in Sanandaj Prison (western Iran) to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions.
Lebanon Minister of Justice, Ashraf Rifi, currently taking part in the 6th World Congress Against the Death Penalty at the Opera House of Oslo, Norway, delivered a speech in which he stressed that this penalty was not a deterrent to crime.
Norway’s parliament has authorized a government request for sending troops to Syria, a new sign that the pacifist Scandinavian country may become involved deeper in the conflict in the Arab country.
Foreign Minister Brende’s opening speech at Sixth World Congress against the death penalty in Oslo.
At all times, we must remember that – contrary to what many people think – the death penalty is not exclusive to any particular region, political system, religion, culture or tradition.
As we have learned time and again, no justice system is perfect. There are numerous cases of innocent people serving time. Death row is no exception.
Some 700 priests called for clemency.
In addition to the constitutional mandate, Power of Mercy Act 2011 assigns the committee support functions including undertaking research and collecting data on matters related to power of mercy.
Mangala Samaraweera, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka in Norway to attend the 6th World Congress against the Death Penalty.
Thank you, thank you, Ladies and gentlemen and friends. It is indeed a great honor to be here today at the Norwegian Institute for International affairs.
In fact, this victory in January was repeated again in August where extremist political parties on all sides of the divide were again decisively defeated and for the first time in Sri Lanka’s history, the two principle political parties which have governed Sri Lanka since independence chose to be on the same side leaving aside the bitterness of the past. And also for the first time, the leader of the TNA, the party which represents the Tamil community in Sri Lanka was chosen as the leader of the opposition and thus I feel a new window of opportunity was opened for Sri Lanka after many years to rectify the mistakes of the past and go forward towards a new future.
From here I go to Geneva next week where I will be making a statement on what we are doing now and also the fact that the Government is united in its determination to come to terms with what happened earlier. Again certain newspapers and social media like to say that the President has one view, the Prime Minister has another, the Foreign Minister yet another but it is not so. We are working unitedly. In fact, those of you who heard President Sirisena addressing the nation on the 4th of February during the independence day of Sri Lanka this year, he said “ It is now time for us to seize the current opportunity that is before us to implement the provisions of the Geneva resolution, not because of International pressure, but because as a nation, we must implement these provisions for the sake of restoring the dignity of our nation, our people and our military, in order for Sri Lanka to regain her due position as a strong democracy among the community of nations.” So we are moving ahead as I said with confidence and meeting the challenges head on.
We have been getting a lot of support from the West since the new government came into power. There’s a tsunami of goodwill I’d like say but that good will must now transform itself into practical day to day realities and the best way you can help as I said is by choosing Sri Lanka as your destination of choice for investment for trade.
If you want to know what kind of diplomacy Sri Lanka is following, I would like to go back to something Jawaharlal Nehru said in 1947. He said “Whatever policy you may lay down, the art of conducting foreign affairs of a country lies finding out what is most advantageous to the country.” So I think today it may sound very selfish but we aren’t ideologically driven but self interest is I would say is the driving force in our foreign policy. Because we want to ensure that the people of Sri Lanka, even at this late stage, get the future that they truly deserve.
In 1956, a few years after Independence, my father, then the Parliamentary Secretary for Justice, proposed a bill ending capital punishment which was supported by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, the Prime Minister and founder of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party – our island’s other main political party. The bill passed but tragically the death penalty was resumed a few years later as result of Mr. Bandaranaike’s assassination until a de facto moratorium was instituted in 1976.
In a message to a world conference against the death penalty in Oslo, Norway, Pope Francis says capital punishment “contradicts God’s plan for individuals and society, and his merciful justice” and says that growing opposition to the practice is a “sign of hope.”
“Indeed, nowadays the death penalty is unacceptable, however grave the crime of the convicted person,” Francis said on the message released on Tuesday.
“It does not render justice to victims, but instead fosters vengeance,” Francis said in Spanish.
As he has done several times before, the Argentine pontiff also called for an improvement of prison conditions so that they respect the dignity of does incarcerated. Rendering justice, he said, “does not mean seeking punishment for its own sake, but ensuring that the basic purpose of all punishment is the rehabilitation of the offender.”
A Kenyan delegation is in Oslo, Norway to attend the 6th World Congress against the Death Penalty.
State Secretary Tore Hattrem’s speech at the 200th anniversary of the Office of the Auditor General of Norway.
Norway has revealed a proposed defence spending plan that allows for the acquisition of a new maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) to replace its six-strong fleet of Lockheed P-3 Orions.
The United States and Norway this week announced (1) they would offset the greenhouse gas emissions from their aviation industry by buying voluntary emission reduction credits from reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in tropical forests. The plan would violate the Rio Declaration in two ways.
The UK energy regulator has granted a licence to a Norwegian consortium that plans to build a 345-mile power cable to bring renewable hydro power into Britain.
