Norway

In 2009, the Norwegian government passed the Nature Diversity Act (Naturmangfoldloven). The law protects biological, geological and landscape diversity, as well as their ecological processes, through conservation and sustainable use. The reason for the protection is that the environment provides a basis for human activity, culture, health, and wellbeing for the present and future, including a basis for indigenous Sámi culture. The law is part of a governmental investment in environment, diversity, and species, including the search for more information and knowledge about insects and pollinators.

The first Red List of Species, containing an overview of species at risk of becoming extinct in Norway, was published in 1984. Several editions have been published since. The most recent from 2021 determined that 25% of pollinating insects in Norway is on the red list, with 16% being endangered. The most pressing threats to pollinating insects are factors which negatively influence their habitats. The red lists for habitat types from 2018 shows that the most important pollinator habitats, like semi-natural hay meadows (CR), are threatened. Active measures like traditional management, removing invasive alien species and area regulations are needed to better the status of pollinators by increasing the size and quality of habitats, decreasing fragmentation, incorporating flowering plants into agricultural fields and decrease negative land-use change.

In 2021, the Action plan for Wild Pollinating Insects was launched and is a result of the cooperation between the six ministries of Climate and Environment, Local Government and Regional Development, Agriculture and Food, Transport, Petroleum and Energy and Defense. The action plan is the primary tool for following up on the Pollinator strategy through a number of specific measures and actions. The action plan is valid until 2028 and will at that time be revised based on the results and status of pollinators. Examples of included measures are increased efforts of mapping and monitoring, observations through citizen science, reduce the spread of invasive species, include wildflower seed mixes in farming and knowledge sharing.

Red to green method A measure in the action plan is to work with endangered habitats and pollinators in an interconnected manner. The red to green method is developed to specifically address species or nature types on the red list, and it sets a specific timeframe for when a species is to have bettered its red-list status by at least one tier. It is a new method which is still being improved upon and both species and habitats are progressively being added. For now, the butterfly Scolitantides orion is the only pollinator which is directly connected to this method and is to have bettered its red list status by 2034. However, several important habitats for pollinators, like semi-natural grasslands, are being managed with the method and has a timeframe until 2037.

Scolitantides orion is critically endangered (CR) in Norway. Image source: naturarkivet.no/

 

National Monitoring of Insects in Norway is a large-scale project initiated in 2020 to determine the current state of insects in general and pollinators in particular. The project is led by the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) and funded by the Norwegian Environmental Agency. The goal is to quantify insect biomass and species diversity in key habitats. Through the use of DNA metabarcoding the researchers are able to gather data about the whole species pool in a resource efficient way. This method also allows for extraction of information about within-species genetic variation to identify populations which are especially valuable to maintain high genetic diversity. The project now includes sites in the eastern, middle, northern and southern parts of Norway but the ambition is to monitor all of Norway. Ten years of monitoring is needed to see emerging patterns. The project will continue after this to provide indicators for ecological status.

Malaise trap used in the field to capture insects (Image source: naturarkivet.no)

The content of the capture

Other ongoing monitoring projects are Monitoring of bumblebees and butterflies, initiated in 2009, and 3Q-monitoring of pollinators, initiated in 2021. Both projects make use of voluntary insect enthusiasts who go out three times a year and record species and frequencies of butterflies and bumblebees. The specific habitats they investigate are forest and meadows, and edges of agricultural fields in cultural landscapes (3Q). Both projects are funded by the Norwegian Environmental Agency, and organized by NINA, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomic Research (NIBIO) and the non-governmental organization Sabima.

Information about where species have been observed is open to anyone at Artsdatabanken.no. The registrations are from museum collections or done by biologists in the field. The website Naturindeks.no also provides information about species status in Norway. Species observations are here used as indicators for ecosystem status all around Norway. Both websites display their data on easy-to-read maps.

Strengthening communication is a focus area of the National pollinator strategy. This includes providing knowledge to the private and public sector, but also to the general public. Different measures can be used to increase communication, such as seminars, information campaigns, and different types of citizen participation projects. Citizen research is an important way to both enthuse and inform about the importance of pollinators.

Brochures

To increase the public´s knowledge about pollinators, several brochures about different native pollinator groups have been produced, such as bumblebees, solitary bees and hoverflies. These provide information about physiology, morphology, life cycles and habitat range with the aim to teach the general public how to recognize them and register the species through citizen science projects.

Wild Pollinator count

During the summer of 2023, the Norwegian Environmental Agency and the non-governmental organization La Humla Suse initiated the Wild Pollinator count which invites the public to count and register their findings of wild pollinators throughout the summer months. The project will be continued every summer until 2028 as a way to engage citizens with species registration, which is specified as a measure in the Action plan for Wild Pollinating Insects. The observations are registered at the website artsobservasjoner.no.

Events

Events to increase the publics interaction and understanding of pollinators are popular in Norway. “Bumblebee walks” are common, where nets and jars are used to capture and look closer at bumblebees during a stroll through natural areas. This engages people of all ages, including whole families. Other outreach actions are seminars about how to make private gardens and back yards more pollinator friendly, promoting a menu for pollinator friendly plants, and how to make an insect hotel or a bumblebee house. Schools and kindergartens are an important driver for planting pollinator-friendly flowers on their facilities.