Related goal
Mangfaldet av naturtypar i skog skal takast vare på eller gjenopprettast innanfor sitt naturlege utbreiingsområde, og slik at alle stadeigne arter førekjem i levedyktige bestandar. Det genetiske mangfaldet og viktige økologiske funksjonar og tenester skal takast vare på.
The proportion of wilderness-like areas (areas more than 5 km from major infrastructure development) in Norway was calculated for 1900 and 1940. Since 1988, these areas have been mapped every fifth year. For the country as a whole, the proportion of wilderness-like areas has dropped from app. 48 per cent to just under 12 per cent in the past 100 years.
Are we moving in the right direction?
The extent of areas without infrastructure development, including wilderness-like areas, is shrinking steadily. Areas without infrastructure development were mapped in the periods 1988-1994, 1994-1998 and 1998-2003.
The rate of loss was somewhat lower in 1998-2003 than during the two earlier periods. There are several reasons for this. In the period 1998-2003, there were fewer major hydropower developments, and the rate of construction of forest roads and farm tracks dropped considerably during the 1990s. The fact that the public authorities have been focusing on this issue and the surveys of areas without infrastructure development have also resulted in a more cautious approach to developments in such areas on the part of the planning authorities.
Despite the reduction in the rate of construction of forest roads and farm tracks, this sector accounted for about 80 per cent of the loss of areas without infrastructure development in the period 1998-2003. Hydropower developments, energy production and energy transmission accounted for about 11 per cent.