Briefing Note
OIL
DRILLING
&
ECOSYSTEM
MANAGEMENT
PLANNING OF THE BARENTS SEA
Allan Sande
Introduction
Biodiversity conservation in the Arctic is on the international agenda at the United Nations
(UN). Greenpeace International calls upon the UN and governments for an immediate
moratorium to save the Arctic Ocean from industrial development. The Arctic Ocean has
historically been covered by sea ice, which has today suffered a significant reduction due to
climate change. According to Greenpeace, the long term solution is an inter-governmental
agreement to a permanent, equitable and overarching treaty or multi-lateral agreement that
protects the Arctic Ocean’s environment and ecosystems and the peoples who depend on them
(http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/). The International Association of Oil and Gas
Producers (OPG) is working on a Joint Industry Programme (JIP) for technological innovations
in oil drilling in Polar Oceans to develop new technology for the emergency planning and
management of large oil-spill disasters in ice conditions (Øvrebekk Lewis, 2013). This article
presents the Norwegian solution to the oil and gas exploitation and biodiversity conservation of
large sea areas in the Barents Sea, which is a part of the Arctic Ocean (Figure 1). In accordance
with international UN agreements, the Norwegian state has implemented an ecosystem based
management plan for large areas in the Barents Sea (Ministry of Environment, White paper nr.8,
2005-2006). This initiative is linked to the international conventions of biodiversity conservation
and the Malawi convention of ecosystems (Sandstrøm, 2008). These international guidelines are
based on user management at the lowest democratic level, the conservation of a large ecosystem
and the use of local knowledge and natural science in the governance of nature.
Allan Sande is Professor of Sociology at the University of Nordland, Bodø, Norway.