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NordGen participated in Tromsø meeting where Nordic ministers discussed food, agriculture, and resilience

Date: 2022.06.22

Contact: info@nordgen.org

The midnight sun was shining on the partly snow-covered mountains as ten Nordic ministers gathered in Tromsø today. The agenda included discussion on climate goals, the war in Ukraine, carbon storage and much more. As the chair, Norway chose to lift among other things national self-sufficiency within food production as well as geopolitical challenges at the meeting which gathered the Nordic Council of Ministers for Fisheries, Aquaculture, Agriculture, Food and Forestry (MR-FJLS).

“We in Norway have put food security on the top of the agenda and that equals cooperation. NordGen is a very important part of the Nordic cooperation and not least the PPP-collaboration for pre-breeding contributes to a more resilient agriculture”, said Sandra Borch, Norwegian Minister of Agriculture and Food.

When opening the meeting, Borch continued to focus on the importance of reaching a green a shift in the agriculture to reach targets on climate and biodiversity. As the meeting continued, the effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine on the minister council’s working areas permeated the discussions.

Support for Project on Increased Resilience

The meeting included several different lectures. For example, Per Hansson from NordGen’s sister organization NKJ, presented an ongoing project mapping out the need for increased resilience in the Nordic bioeconomy. A project which gathered wide political support from the Nordic ministers.

“Here in the Nordic region, we are already seeing the consequences of the war in Ukraine in the shape of rising prices on food and fuel. That shows the need for preparedness. In the Nordic countries, we already have great collaboration, but more can be done. There are those who say that the green transition of the agriculture must be postponed due to the war, but I would say that it is the complete opposite. We need to take the opportunity to scale up our efforts now”, said Rasmus Prehn, Denmark’s Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries.

Prehn was supplemented by Finland’s Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Antti Kurvinen, who underlined the importance of a thorough investigation of which areas that would benefit from and give increased value of Nordic cooperation. Also, the Swedish Minister of Enterprise and Innovation, Anna-Caren Sätherberg said that many of the national initiatives concerning bioeconomy could be strengthened by Nordic cooperation. Karl Tobiassen, Greenlandic Minister of Fisheries and Catch, added that our natural resources must be taken care of in a sustainable way, not only today but also for the future and for our children’s sake.

NordGen Important Piece of the Puzzel

The Nordic Ministers have decided that the Nordic countries should be the world’s most sustainable and integrated region by 2030. Many of the discussions at the ministers’ meeting concerned, directly and indirectly, how this vision is to be fulfilled. NordGen, whose operations take up more than half of the entire MR-FJLS budget, is an important piece of the puzzle.

“Biodiversity and genetic resources are valuable tools for a green transition of our society. That’s why it’s so important that we conserve and use these resources in a sustainable way and why I’m so very happy to see the support there is for NordGen at a very high political level”, said Lise Lykke Steffensen, NordGen’s Managing Director.

The Nordic Ministers were photographed outside of the meeting venue in Tromsø, Norway.