[Our translation of part of the preface for the report.]
In 2018, Prime Minister Erna Solberg took the initiative for the international high-level panel for a sustainable ocean economy (Ocean Panel/Havpanelet). The Ocean Panel's goal is to present action-oriented global recommendations, and the report with political recommendations was presented in December 2020. The Ocean Panel points to many challenges: The temperature is rising. The polar ice is melting. The sea is rising. Island states are flooded. Plastic is going astray. Animal species are becoming extinct. Coral reefs are dying. The sea is acidified. But the report also provides a basis for hope if we manage the sea sustainably by preserving more nature, investing in sustainable value creation and ensuring fair distribution. Protecting nature does not necessarily mean leaving it fallow. Activity can be conducted as long as it takes place within nature's limits.
The Ocean Panel have written 16 scientific status reports on key topics (Blue Papers), and these form a knowledge base for the political recommendations. The project "Blue Compass" (Blått kompass) is based on these global studies with a view to assessing their relevance to Norwegian conditions.
The work with Blue Compass has been carried out by 16 groups of authors, each composed of 4-9 experts. The Centre for the Ocean and the Arctic (Senter for hav og Arktis) has coordinated the work. We hope that the product can be useful for business and administration and be a compass to stake out the course.
Chapter 4 of the report can be found here (in Norwegian):
Chapter 4: The Ocean Genome – conservation and sustainable use of marine genetic resources in Norway
Authors of chapter 4: Nils Chr. Stenseth, Helle Tessand Baalsrud, Kjetill S. Jakobsen, Trygve Brautaset, Anders Goksøyr, Nina Jensen, Trond Ø. Jørgensen, Jan Raa, and Simen Rød Sandve.
The full report can be found here (in Norwegian):
Full report: Blue Compass Report at the Centre for the Ocean and the Arctic