Commercial builds in natural zones criticised, Norwegian leaders in New York for UN Assembly, snow in mountains and more news from Norway this Monday.
15,000 commercial building projects planned on natural land
A majority of current planned commercial sites are located in natural areas, according to a new report conducted by Norkart on behalf of the Norwegian Environment Agency (Miljødirektoratet).
Almost half of the designated commercial land is in forest areas and only 12 percent is in so-called ‘grey areas’, which have already been developed.
“This once again shows that large natural areas in Norway are being planned for development piece by piece,” climate and environment minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen said in a statement.
“I urge municipalities to carry out a review of their plans and steer development towards grey areas. The government has begun work on a map of grey areas to make it easier to identify suitable sites,” he said.
Foreign minister says UN General Assembly is ‘most important for years’
Foreign minister Espen Barth Eide said this week’s UN General Assembly, which begins today in New York City, is more important than it has been for many years.
“It’s no secret that the UN is facing a fairly major crisis right now,” Eide told broadcaster NRK.
The UN faces a political crisis with declining support for its core principles, as well as a major financial crisis, he said.
“What we are seeing now are wars and conflicts in which virtually all the rules of the UN Charter are being broken. If we allow that to continue, we will be in a far more dangerous world than we are used to,” said Eide.
He described both Gaza and Ukraine as “definitive for our time”.
“If the Security Council is unable to act on either of them, the UN system will be weakened,” he said.
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Støre to meet Syrian president in New York
Eide will be alongside Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre when the two meet Syria’s president Ahmad Hussein al-Sharaa on Monday on the sidelines of the UN summit, Støre told NRK.
Al-Sharaa is on the UN sanctions list but has been granted an exemption to travel to the US during summit week.
Syria announced on Sunday that the country will hold elections on October 5th.
Snow in mountain areas
Snow fell overnight in the Dovrefjell mountain range between the towns of Oppdal and Dombås south of Trondheim, NRK writes.
Traffic authorities said snow has not settled on the road, but it may be slippery in some places.
Snowfall is forecast in areas of 900 metres altitude and above during Monday.