Norway’s Arctic Strategy – between geopolitics and social development.

Norway’s Arctic Strategy-between geopolitics and social development 2017 is a cross-sectoral regional strategy that incorporates both foreign policy and domestic policy and is prepared with a vision for the Arctic to be a peaceful, innovative and sustainable region. The goals of the strategy are peace, stability and predictability, integrated, ecosystem-based management, international cooperation and the international legal order, and a stronger basis for employment, value creation and welfare.
Five priority areas are crucial for the development in the Arctic: International cooperation, Business development, Knowledge development, Infrastructure, Environmental protection and emergency preparedness.
To help eliminate global food insecurity, the government will maintain international cooperation on the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, with a view to safeguarding genetic diversity and contributing to global food security.
Further, increasing the resilience of livelihoods to disasters through ensuring environmental protection, safety, and emergency preparedness is amongst the goals of the strategy. To this end, the government will establish a center with leading competence on oil spill preparedness and response and marine plastic litter, located in the Lofoten and Vesterålen archipelago; take steps to maintain viable populations and improve the conservation status of threatened species in the Arctic; present a revised management plan for the Barents Sea–Lofoten area in 2020; maintain the ambitious environmental targets and the current strict environmental legislation for Svalbard; continue to participate in efforts under the IMO and the Arctic Council to harmonize implementation of the Polar Code worldwide; continue efforts to survey and chart key areas around Svalbard; establish new AIS base stations on the west coast of Svalbard to strengthen maritime traffic surveillance and to provide continually updated maritime situational awareness to the Vardø Vessel Traffic Service and other relevant agencies; continue Norway’s close cooperation with Russia on oil spill preparedness and response in the Barents Sea; continue to push for closer cooperation between the Arctic states on oil spill preparedness and response; maintain and strengthen international cooperation with the Arctic states on search and rescue, in particular with a view to further implementation of the Agreement on Cooperation on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic, through the work of the Arctic Council’s Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response Working Group (EPPR); and commission the construction of new coast guard vessels and complete the acquisition of new rescue helicopters.