📋 Tender Overview
The Ministry of Climate and Environment has commissioned the Norwegian Environment Agency to establish a publicly available map of natural forests. The map should be completed as soon as possible, and no later than the end of the year.
In a petition, 167 scientists, including many leading forest scientists, have asked the government to register and map the last natural forests by 2025.
The Minister of Climate and Environment is now addressing this by commissioning the Norwegian Environment Agency to produce a public map of the old forest that has not been clearcut. It will be the first map to provide an overall overview of natural forests in Norway. The map will be posted in Naturbase.
"There is broad agreement that the oldest forest is very important for preserving endangered species. The forests are home to 1330 endangered animals, birds, plants and insects, and as much as 84 percent of these species are associated with old-growth forests. We therefore need better knowledge about the oldest forest, says Minister of Climate and Environment Andreas Bjelland Eriksen.
The assignment of the Norwegian Environment Agency is an important initiative to improve knowledge about the oldest forest.
A map of natural forests will, among other things, be useful for forest protection efforts to obtain a better overview of the occurrence of such forest in different areas. The first version of the map will be made on the basis of, among other things, satellite images, laser scanning and existing data from various sources.
In the assignment that has been given, the Ministry of Climate and Environment asks the Norwegian Environment Agency to establish a publicly available map of natural forests, i.e. forests that have not been clear-cut since about 1940.
The Ministry of Climate and Environment has asked the Norwegian Environment Agency to establish and publish a first version of the map as soon as possible and no later than the end of 2024. The Ministry requests that the Norwegian Environment Agency clarify the level of precision of the map and at the same time make a recommendation on how further work can be done on the map.
"We will take better care of nature, while at the same time facilitating sustainable and long-term resource utilisation. This management must be knowledge-based. Then we need not least to know where the most important natural values are," says Minister Bjelland Eriksen.
