Act on protection of the environment in Svalbard (No. 79 of 2001).

The purpose of this Act is to preserve the environment in Svalbard and in particular to protect wilderness, landscape elements, flora, fauna and cultural heritage. The Act shall apply to the entire land area of Svalbard and its waters within the territorial limit. The Act consists of 103 sections divided into 10 Chapters.
The Act defines the environmental protection authorities for Svalbard. Protected areas may be established for the protection of habitats, ecosystems, the wilderness or area of natural or historical value. The Act provides for the administrative procedure of the establishment of protected areas, i.e. national parks, nature reserves, protected biotopes and geotopes and cultural environments. The King may, by Regulations, grant a protected area special status under an international convention on the protection of the natural environment or cultural heritage. One Chapter of this Act contains provisions for the protection of fauna and flora. It places restrictions on the introduction of flora into the wild and defines the right to kill animals for the protection of people or property. One Chapter is dedicated to the protection of cultural heritage. A landowner or an institution authorized by the Ministry is responsible for planning in each land-use planning area and shall ensure that planning of the use and protection of the land within the land-use planning area is carried out on a continuous basis. The contents of a land-use plan are defined. The Act further makes provision for: environmental impact assessment and approval of activities that may have an impact on the environment; monitoring of impact; clean-up operations; the prevention of pollution and waste and the prohibition to release environmentally hazardous substances into the environment; an emergency response system in case of acute pollution; access and passage through wilderness areas; inspection and control measures; remedial action and other sanctions; and the Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund.