Professional colleagues from Norway have been reaching out to the international community in recent days regarding an apparent volte-face that will have lasting consequences. Indeed, February is seeing a number of confusing messages coming out of a country that I have always considered to be 'on it'.

A recent article by Simon Holmström in EU Observer (Brussels) - 'Norwegian MPs are acting like criminals' - tells us that 'Norway's recent decision to greenlight deep-sea mining plans in the Arctic has sent shockwaves through the world.'

'Last month, Norway's MPs voted to allow firms to explore an area of the Norwegian Sea equivalent to the size of Italy, with a view to extracting metals such as cobalt, nickel and manganese. They say it will help to ensure Europe's independence from the likes of China and Russia in the manufacture of such green technologies as electric car batteries and solar Panels. But at what cost? Deep-sea mining, as scientists have repeatedly told Oslo, involves big machines grinding up habitats and releasing plumes of toxic sludge into the ocean - devastating for the environment and a grave threat to marine ecosystems. If an EU nation tried to do what Norway plans to do, it would be open to prosecution under the bloc's Environmental Crime Directive. So it is imperitive that the EU now demands a reversal of this reckless decision.'

That is one recent government greenlight. Then, just like a bus, along comes another. This one, however, not only threatens a region of environmental significance but it also imperils Norwegian cultural heritage. The government has reached a decision to allow a rock quarry and a shipping quay to be built in the immediate vicinity of one of the most significant rock art sites in Europe - Vingen - despite objections from the National Antiquities Office of Norway. The latter rightly argues that what sets Vingen apart from almost all other European rock art sites is that it sits in a pristine natural setting almost unchanged since the art was made many thousands of years ago. As for the art itself, Vingen is of World Heritage value; it is one of the largest and best ancient petroglyph sites in Europe.

There also seems to be a certain amount of hypocrisy here; through the Oil Fund, Norway has taken action in recent years to preserve the 40,000-year-old rock art in Indonesia. In 2022, as a Norwegian Oil Fund initiative, the Indonesian mining company Semen Tonasa was put on a three-year watch list due to the risk of damaging prehistoric cultural heritage.

The prehistoric carvings of Vingen are not silent relics on a lifeless headland looking out to the North Sea; they, along with other rock art sites, are the irreplaceable foundation stones of a living culture. Yes, we understand the Benthamite principles of economic necessities, achieving net zero strategies, reducing energy imports and activating unutilised indigenous resources, but it ill behoves any nation, government or democratically-elected body of a decision-making capacity to do so at the expense of its own cultural heritage. There is always a third way.

Peter Robinson
Editor
Bradshaw Foundation

It is important to lodge your opposition to this development, raise awareness, disseminate knowledge about the threat to cultural heritage and the environment, and encourage collective efforts to halt the quarry project.

Please consider signing the petition to halt this develpment, which can be found here:
Click here for the signature campaign

Rock art sites do not sit in isolation. Rather, they are integral parts of landscapes with both cultural and natural values. Vingen’s surrounding natural landscape is also very important as it is integral to Vingen’s context and one of the reasons ancient peoples marked the area with rock art thousands of years ago. Vingen is of World Heritage value and one of the largest and best ancient petroglyph sites in Europe. The rock art imagery of Vingen is diverse, numerous and unique and the site is one of the jewels in the crown of Norway’s rock art heritage.

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