Ministry of Agriculture and Food Environmental Strategy 2008 - 2015.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Environmental Strategy 2008–2015 is a national cross-sectoral strategy presented to systematize and strengthen environmental efforts undertaken to address the challenges faced by the agrifood sector.
The strategy sets out the main goals, strategies and measures until 2015. A- Protection of biodiversity and outdoor recreation through: 1) farmland protection through stricter law enforcement, conservation efforts, soil resource management; 2) maintaining the farming landscape by sustaining active agriculture; 3) sustainable forestry as the basis for increased value creation and increased commitment to the use of bioenergy, timber and non-cultivated land resources; 4) maintaining a good plant and animal health through effective and targeted inspection and contingency based on persistent research and knowledge development; 5) maintaining and developing high animal welfare standards through ensuring ethically and environmentally sound animal husbandry; 6) contributing to a diversity of outdoor recreation experiences and activities through ensuring variation, accessibility and increased use of farming landscapes for outdoor recreation; 7) Reindeer husbandry and the environment in order to generate a viable reindeer industry that sustainably uses grazing resources and contributes to maintaining the distinctive character of the Sami culture; 8) Conservation and use of genetic resources to maintain food security and sustainable agriculture through strengthening the Norwegian Genetic Resource Center and following up on action plans for the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources of crops, livestock and forest trees; 9) work to avoid the introduction and limit the spread of invasive alien species by implementing measures pursuant to the Norwegian Cross-sectoral Strategy on Invasive Alien Species; 10) preventing unintentional GMO contamination of conventional and organic crops through continuation of restrictive policies to avoid unintentional GMO contamination and ensure the right of producers and consumers to choose non-GMO products.
B- Clean waters and a non-toxic environment focused on: 1) contributing to securing a good ecological status of aquatic ecosystems to facilitate a reduction of erosion and nutrient runoff in watercourses polluted by agriculture, a more efficient utilization of fertilizer nutrients, and keeping cadmium in phosphorus mineral fertilizers at a low level and not above; 2) Maintaining Norway's high health and environmental standards related to the use of pesticides by reducing risks associated with the use of chemical pesticides as well as their use; 3) Recycling and utilizing resources in organic by-products and wastes in order to contribute to reducing the amount of food waste and utilizing valuable resources in organic waste materials; 4) Organic food production and consumption in an effort to have fifteen percent of food production and consumption organic by 2015.
To increase resilience of livelihoods to disasters, work will focus on generating a stable climate and clean air strategy through: 1) Forests in order to enhance and make visible forests' positive role as a climate mitigation measure through maintaining and developing forest resources with consistently high growth rates, high and increasing net CO2 absorption in forests and contributing to increased use of bioenergy and wood; and 2)agriculture, food production and food consumption in order to limit emissions to the atmosphere from the production, processing and consumption of food. To this end, activities will focus on presenting a white paper on agriculture and climate change to the Storting, follow up on the goals of the Agricultural Agreement of 2008, implementing the development programme for climate change mitigation measures in Agriculture, including policy instruments and measures that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the second-generation regional environmental programmes, making efforts to include agriculture in municipal climate plans, contribute to consumer information about the link between food and climate change, and raise awareness among all stakeholders in the entire food value chain to promote environment-friendly food production, processing, transport, trade and consumption, as well as reducing food wastes and optimising their treatment.
Regarding governance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food is the lead institution for the implementation of this strategy.