Use of geological/geomorphological information in landscape planning
Lars Erikstad
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research

Introduction

Geological and geomorphological information has long been recognized as important in certain fields of land use planning, especially linked to nature conservation. But the Earth sciences also have a major role to play in the wider field of nature management and planning. Biodiversity has become the key word over the last few decades, and now geodiversity as a term is growing, balancing biodiversity in a more holistic understanding of the importance of diversity in nature.

Traditional conservation

Norway has a long tradition of geological nature conservation. The first Norwegian Nature Conservation Act in 1911 specified mineralogical and palaeontological interests, among others, as a legal basis for establishing natural protected areas. Even though geology has not been given priority, some 250 areas have been protected more-or-less directly on geological grounds. This represents nearly 10% of all protected areas in Norway. Additionally, geological interests, especially of a geomorphological nature, play an important role in establishing National Parks and large Landscape Protection Areas.

New nature conservation acts were passed in 1954 and 1970. The act of 1970 is still in force and enables the establishment of various types of protected areas, including national parks, protected landscape areas, nature reserves and natural monuments. Geology is accepted as a justification for protection in this act, but is not specified as it was in the act of 1911.

A committee with the task to review the legislation relating to biodiversity, have, however, proposed new legislation in Norway. Not since the first nature conservation act of 1911 has geology as such been specified in this type of legislation in Norway. The committee has considered it particularly important to develop legislation that takes into account the dynamics of natural systems and the need to use a variety of instruments to achieve Norway's objective of stopping biological diversity loss. Biological diversity is therefore of key importance, but the draft act has much wider scope than this, since it is also designed to protect other natural assets, especially landscapes and geological features.

The draft states that the purpose of the act is to ensure that the biodiversity, landscape diversity, geological diversity and ecological processes of the natural environment are safeguarded for posterity. Geology is also covered in the different protection categories, such as natural reserves, and is also included in the term 'habitat type' (in Norwegian more neutrally called 'nature type', which is defined very widely in the draft act). This is important since much of the local nature management is concentrated around this term.

On the islands of Svalbard the legislation is different and based on the Svalbard treaty which gives Norway sovereignty over the islands, but gives other signing countries special rights in the development of economical activities on the islands. Nature conservation has a high profile on the islands, and more than 50% of the land surface has been protected as national parks and nature reserves. These protected areas of course, also affect a good many important geotopes, even if this is not the main reason for the area's protection. The new Svalbard environmental act in 2002 states its aim as to maintain the relatively pristine environment on Svalbard with the emphasis on continuous wilderness areas, landscape elements, flora, fauna and cultural heritage. When it comes to geoconservation, this is established in the paragraphs covering nature reserves (special nature types and geological occurrences), and protected areas for biotopes and geotopes.

The major activity in Norway under the present government is a large effort to establish new, and extend existing, National Parks and large Landscape Protection Areas. Many of these have great importance for the Earth sciences, and for many more, geological and geomorphological information has played an important role in the planning process.

River protection

Protection plans for river systems have also become important. Four such plans have been approved, covering, after a new amendment this year, 387 objects (representing more than 20% of the defined hydroelectric potential recourses in Norway). The background for this is the high activity Norway has experienced within hydroelectric development. The protection is in principle limited to hydroelectric development (excluding small installations up to 1 MW that do not affect the defined protection interests), but also has some implication in land use planning.

River protection plans have also been shown to be important for Earth science conservation. They have special relevance in conserving recent fluvial processes, especially erosion in surficial deposits and sedimentation in rivers. They also have a conservation impact on important Earth science sites along the river course even if the legal impact of the plans are limited. Several areas with important Quaternary deposits and other Earth science interests are protected from being dammed or used in the construction work for hydropower installations. Geological and especially geomorphological information have traditionally been regarded as important to contribute to these plans, as well as in environmental impact assessments for hydroelectric development, although this is not as strong under modern legislation as it used to be.

General nature management and land use planning

Most areas are not managed under special legislation, but under normal land use planning systems. It is therefore of vital importance that geology is recognised as a natural interest in its own right alongside biological interests. Over the last few years the term biodiversity has gained global recognition as the basis for nature management and land use planning under the overall aim of sustainable development. Even if this term includes ecosystem diversity, and thus also contains important geological aspects, there is a tendency to concentrate on species diversity in a more narrow sense. Therefore, the term geodiversity has been launched as a parallel and is in the process of being widely accepted. A project under the Nordic Council of Ministers aims to introduce the term geodiversity into Nordic nature management.

The general understanding of natural values and our natural (and to some extent geological) heritage has improved in recent years. Together with better legislation in the general land use planning system this has made it possible to consider geotope conservation within normal planning procedures, although examples are more rare than might be hoped for. It is important to remember that a comprehensive concept of geoconservation includes all levels of geological value, as well as the total spectrum of legislation concerned with nature and resource management and use. This gives us a unique possibility to construct strategies and concepts that penetrate society in a much broader manner than before. One example is the work carried out recently in the Nordic countries establishing geodiversity as a theme for nature management on the same level as, and complimentary to, biodiversity. It is, however a great challenge, as broad concepts like this are also vulnerable to swift local changes in policy and needs.

Geodiversity as a term has the advantage of being easily implemented and being understood within existing nature management and land use planning systems. It ranges from the high end of natural values (areas of national and international conservation value) down to the every day landscape where diversity forms important elements in landscape character and quality.

The future

One of the major problems arising in Norway today is the lack of resources for nature conservation. First of all this relates to the lack of manpower working with nature conservation in general and geotope conservation in particular.

Priority is being given to persuade all levels of management in every field to apply conservation principles in their activities, using a broad concept of nature conservation. These are activities that, after some time, start, or will start, to give results, especially in areas with medium to high levels of value and with medium to low levels of conflict. The problem is, however, that areas of very high value and also high conflict tend to be difficult to handle, as they are extremely time-consuming and have high potential costs. Today this problem completely blocks work on protection of Quaternary geological sites, and because these have the highest priority within geology, it affects all work on geotope protection.

Rocks and landscapes are an important element of people's identity that can be seen both locally and nationwide. Norway's fjords, mountains, waterfalls and glaciers are important for the nation and for tourism. Traditional industries together with mines and the modern oil industry have formed our economy, and these can also be seen as a part of our geological diversity. Within the framework of sustainability it seems clear that geoconservation and geological nature management deserve a more prominent place than they have today.

One important element required to achieve this is to provide relevant information at all levels in nature management and planning, and through this raise awareness of its values and the links between biodiversity and geodiversity as well as between geodiversity and cultural heritage. The importance of the Earth sciences for landscapes and landscape identity is a powerful resource that remains to be used in full.

References

Nakrem, H.A., Hurum, J.H., and Dallmann, W. (2004) Protection of articulated marine Jurassic reptiles of Svalbars. ProGEO NEWS, No. 4.

Smith-Meyer, S. (2004) Protection of Norwegian River systems. ProGEO NEWS, No. 3.

Directorate for Nature Management - Norway's National Parks: http://english.dirnat.no/wbch3.exe?p=3034 (in English)
http://www.nve.no/verneplan (in Norwegian)

Diversity in Nature (File Format PDF – size 902 Kb)
http://www.norden.org/miljoe/nfk/sk/GM_ENG.pdf