Málþing um samþættingu áætlana á norðurslóðum sett í dag

Nú fer fram hér á landi málþing um fjölþjóðlega norðurslóðaverkefnið Samþætting áætlana á norðurslóðum. Verkefnið lýtur að samþættingu áætlana fyrir stór svæði og að skapa alþjóðlegum samþykktum og samningum farveg inn í áætlanir. Skipulagsstofnun og Byggðastofnun hafa síðasta árið unnið saman að gerð og fjármögnun verkefnis um samþætta áætlanagerð á Íslandi sem má fræðast nánar um á vefsíðu Skipulagsstofnunar.
Magnús Jóhannesson, ráðuneytisstjóri umhverfisráðuneytisins, flutti setningarávarp við upphaf málþingsins í dag sem fer hér á eftir. Ávarpið var flutt á ensku. 

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning,

It gives me a great pleasure to address you here at the outset of this most interesting gathering. I would like first of all to welcome you all to the Spatial North Projects International Conference: Spatial Planning in Northern Peripheral Regions, especially those of you who have travelled a long way to attend and participate in this Conference.  I hope you all have a nice stay in Iceland.

The world and our society is changing at a more rapid rate than ever before. Globalisation, world wide population growth, movement of people and businesses between countries and continents and growing environmental threats are  providing us with enormous challenges which require much better integration of economic, social and environmental considerations for the future. The far North is no exception to this trend. Sustainable development is the key word, but how can it be attained? There is no simple ansver to sustainable development but it is clear that spatial planning has a fundamental role to play in supporting sustainable development. The essence of sustainable development is long term evaluation and vision which will require much better integration of all these considerations than we have done previously. In Iceland we are working towards better cooordination of these issues and newly adopted legislation on the Strategic Environmental Assessment Act (SEA) is an example of our intentions towards that goal. We are also expecting the Icelandic Parliament to adopt a new legislation on Spatial Planning early next year which will require more involvement of the government in land use planning thus furthering the aims of sustainable development.

As you know, much better than I do, the primary objective of the Spatial North Project is to develop a “toolbox” or a set of good practices for intergrated spatial planning and development. This is certainly a very ambitious objective but also a very essential challenge at times when everything is changing and we have to cope with the changes and adopt to new situations. We in Iceland are very grateful to our partners in this project in Finland, Scotland and Sweden with who we share common characteristics such as low population density and usually high cost for public services.  We therefore have high expectations to the outcome of this project.

Globalisation, the growing market areas and the economic centres impact is obvious- not only in their neighbourhood - but even on the most peripheral areas and societies. Societies must in many cases face growing competition if they are to survive even from far apart and they have to accept and act on new terms to survive and develop. In this respect the importance of sustainable development is becoming more and more relevant for planning the future of our societies.

In this content we can see the importance of the Spatial North Projects. How can we align our efforts, plans and policies, how should we make priorities and  how do we align interests?

We know that we will never reach consensus on all matters, but the question is how we can best work to earn the respect of those who disagree with the conclusions and decisions? What kind of tools are most suitable for making priorities, plans and policies for a future sustainable development? All these important issues are considered in the Spatial North Project where the analythical first phase of the project is now being concluded.  In the next phase of the project the emphasis will be on the development of tools and best practices.

In our part of the World the EU policies are of great significance. At the same time we acknowlegde, that the policies made for Europe will not fit all parts of Europe equally.

In the northern parts of Europe conditions are different from Central Europe. An  important challenge of the Spatial North project and a central issue of this Conference is to understand the difference and create tools accordingly to the environment in North of Europe.   

The aim of this conference is to review the status of the project, hear your comments and guidance and discuss the next steps.

I am impressed to see in the programme so many quality presentations and I am certain that this conference will be of great help for the project and most informative for those that are responsible for the implementation of the Spatial North Project.

I wish you well in your deliberations and hope that this conference will help to maintain the momentum for this most important project.

I thank you for your attention.