Environmental survey must be next
Norwegian environmental groups welcome the treaty on maritime delimitation in the Barents Sea and say first priority know is to start an environmental survey of the 175,000 square kilometre area.
Bellona and Nature and Youth say the agreement signed in Murmansk on Wednesday is an important inroad for Norway to influence Russia in environmental and political matters.
- Norway must use the momentum from this agreement to create consensus on several of the major environmental problems we must solve together with the Russians, says Frederic Hauge, head of the Bellona Foundation.
The environmentalists are afraid the agreement will boost oil- and gas exploration in the Barents Sea.
- The new treaty must not be used as an opportunity to open new, vulnerable areas for oil exploration, says Frederic Hauge in an article published at the Bellona web-site.
