How can the oceans provide us with greater prosperity, while at the same time helping us to achieve our green-growth goals? This was the question posed by NORA and Oslo-based Nordic Innovation during the 2022 Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavík.

The oceans and seas have always played a significant role — economically, culturally, and socially — in the development of the Nordic countries. But the rapid expansion of the global ocean economy has placed increased importance on ocean ecosystems and led to renewed attention on the sustainable use of the oceans.

The Nordic countries have set a goal of becoming the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030, and NORA is contributing to this effort, in part through its focus on the ocean economy. One notable investment was crucial funding for a project that led to the establishment of Ocean Rainforest, a Faroe Islands-based firm that cultivates and harvests seaweed for terrestrial use. Ocean Rainforest, which also received funding from Nordic Innovation, has already expanded its operations to California and further growth is on the horizon.

“We think seaweed is a good solution because it grows faster than any other plant we know of, it only uses the natural nutrients in the ocean, and, as it grows, it takes up CO₂ as well, and we can see that there is an increased market interest for these products in Europe and in the US,” said Ólavur Gregersen, the Ocean Rainforest managing director.

Mr Gregersen was speaking during a panel that also featured the participation of Þórður Reynisson, the head of Nordic Innovation’s Ocean Economy programme, Paul Dobbins, of World Wildlife Fund USA, and Catherine Barth, of Nordic Circular Hotspot.

Among Nordic Innovation’s contributions to increased and more sustainable use of ocean resources is a study written in support of a planned Nordic Sustainable Ocean Economy initiative that aims to strengthen the maritime industries in the region by promoting cross-border collaboration, and by creating new opportunities for growth and innovation in the region.

The Nordic region, Mr Reynisson argued, has a track record as a pioneer in creating innovative ocean-economy solutions that will serve it well as it seeks to come up with new initiatives.

“Oceans are oceans of possibilities,” he said, “but we need to unite and be smarter to utilise those possibilities and come up with innovations that can simultaneously protect the oceans and increase ocean utilisation at the same time. We need new circular business models that are good for business and good for the environment.”

Remote work has become a widely discussed phenomenon in the wake of the pandemic. For many office workers, the flexibility that remote work offers has suddenly made relocation to attractive, yet distant locations a viable option.

The phenomenon is already having an effect on rural as well as urban areas worldwide. Some of the changes may be permanent, but, in the remote part of the NORA area, the shifts in population patterns experienced during the pandemic — and their benefits — are nothing new.

The depressing story of outmigration is one that is common to almost every remote village and hamlet in the region: as local employment opportunities dried up, the institutions that supported them moved away, and with them, the people who once called these places home. 

But, during the NORA-sponsored Arctic Circle Assembly breakout-session Remote Areas: A Window of Opportunity, academics and representatives from these areas told stories of back-movers, in-movers and digital nomads — while also explaining the strategies communities are following as they seek to return themselves from the brink. All of them trace their roots to well before the pandemic.

“Rural areas,” said Theona Morrison, of CoDel, which supports rural Scottish communities, “actually have something to offer. And this is something potential residents have been aware of for a long time.”

The challenge, she and others on the panel agreed, is convincing people that relocation is a leap worth taking.

“One important part of being a remote community is that you have to think creatively,” Dennis Holm, of the University of the Faroe Islands, as well as the former mayor of Vágur council, said. “How can we turn our weaknesses and our threats into opportunities and possibilities? And it’s really difficult to do that, because a lot of communities don’t have the people to do that. So it isn’t easy, but you have to do it anyway.”

Being welcoming to new residents — in other words, making the community a place where outsiders want to live — is a crucial part of that effort, according to Arnar Sigurðsson, of East of the Moon.

“You can’t just expect people to come. There are many windows that we need to identify, and they are opening and closing all the time.”

Already long-reliant on the wind and the consistent ocean current and tides, the northern North Atlantic is perhaps an ideal place to start for those seeking to tap into the forces of nature to power our society.

To find out how the wind and waves can be harnessed— as well as to underscore the region’s potential as a lab where tomorrow’s ocean-energy technologies can see the light of day — NORA, together with Nordic Energy Research and the Faroese Environment Agency, co-organised the Ocean Energy: A Vital Future Source panel at the 2022 Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavík, Iceland.

During the opening of the annual conference, Bárður á Steig Nielsen, the premier of the Faroe Islands, delivered an address in which he underscored that his country now considered sustainable growth as the only form of real growth.

Echoing that sentiment, Klaus Skytte, the chief executive of Nordic Energy Research, noted that the well-attended session was reflective of the great interest in energy in the North Atlantic and Nordic regions.

“The Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland have large energy resources and a unique opportunity to show how the green transition in the Arctic region can be sustainably achieved,” he said.

Speakers during the session and their topics included:

Gavin Mackay, Highlands and Islands Enterprise: Scottish Offshore Wind Overview and How This Might Relate to Iceland and the Faroe Islands

Trond Kvamsdal, Norwegian University of Science and Technology: Floating Wind Turbines – State of the Art

Terji Nielsen, SEV: The Potential for Ocean Wind Energy in Faroes and Iceland

Marte Rusten, DNV: Accommodating Biodiversity in Nordic Offshore Wind Projects