Written by Tale Ellingvåg And Aslak Bjørn, Board Members Of Natur Og Ungdom/Young Friends of the Earth Norway.
This June, Young Friends of the Earth Norway/Natur og Ungdom hosted an “Call to Action” camp in Kvalsund, a little village in the northernmost area of Norway. The camp was a response to the Norwegian mining industry’s plan to dump two million tons of toxic mining tailings and waste a year into two fjords, and the approval this seems to get from government. 50 young environmentalists from all over Norway gathered in Kvalsund to rehearse civil disobedience actions and to protest against the mining project, which will cause catastrophic environmental damage. The camp and actions generated quite some national media and political awareness.
The mining industry is on the rise in Norway, making it important to ensure that the industry is controlled with strong environmental regulations. Unfortunately, many mines planned are environmentally unfriendly, potentially causing irreversible damage. The science is clear – dumping in the fjords is crazy. Norway is one of only three countries that still dispose of mining tailings this way. The others are Turkey and Indonesia, both in much deeper waters than in Norway.
Even if you ignore the pure environmental consequences of the projects, there are many reasons why they are problematic. Both fjords are listed as salmon fjords of national value, and both are ecologically important for different fish species. By dumping mineral waste in the fjords, the species crucial for the aquatic ecosystems living at the bottom will perish, which will destroy the livelihood of sustainable coastal fishers in the areas. In the case concerning the Repparfjord in Kvalsund, there is yet another aspect. The native Saami people are dependent on both the fjord and the areas surrounding the fjord, for herding reindeers.
Natur og Ungdom’s main project this autumn is generating people power and political momentum enough to stop the two planned mining projects which deliberately will destroy our clean, famous and wonderful fjords by polluting the waters and areas surrounding them. Our number of allies is growing. Environmental and indigenous people’s organisations, in addition to political parties and locals, especially close to Førdefjord, are supporting us. We are gathering citizens to join our lists of people willing to do civil obedience actions in both Repparfjord and Førdefjord, and the numbers are growing rapidly as people recognise the problem, and as the government refuses to listen to people and science. If you are interested in joining us, you can contact us on natur@nu.no.
This is now the most debated environmental political case in Norway, and we’ve seen before what we can do with enough people and enough pressure from every possible angle. Lofoten would never be free of oil if it was up to governmental and industrial interests, only social movement of historical sizes can stop madness like this. Young Friends of the Earth will never accept mutation of the fjords into toxic junkyards, and we will stop the forces trying to push the dumping through.