Protected areas, 31 December 2011

The total number of protected areas in Norway now exceeds 101 000, covering more than 94 100 km² of the land area - equivalent to 25 per cent. Protected areas on the mainland made up 17 per cent and on Svalbard as much as 65 per cent of the land area. In Norway, the national parks combined account for the largest part of the protected areas. The national park areas are more than 45 400 km², divided into about 31 000 km² on the mainland and 14 400 km² on Svalbard. Norway has a total of 41 national parks, 34 of which are located on the mainland and 7 on Svalbard.

The national parks Langsua and Rohkunborri

The smallest national park in Norway was until recently Ormtjernkampen, at less than 9 km², but in 2011 this was incorporated into the new and somewhat larger national park Langsua in Oppland. Also Rohkunborri national park (571 km²) in Troms got established in 2011.

In 2011, the national parks made up 57 per cent of the conservation land area on the mainland, and have increased by approximately 1 000 km²(2 percentage points) during the year. The largest national park on the mainland is Hardangervidda, with an area of about 3 445 km². With regard to counties, Nordland and Oppland have the largest national park areas, with approximately 5 000 km² each. Not all counties have national parks. Only one of the national parks includes area of skerries, and areas of fjords are very limited. It is on Svalbard we find Norway’s largest national park; South Spitsbergen, with an area of 4 957 km². However, the national parks on Svalbard only account for 36 per cent of the total conservation area.

Nature reserve area is the most important category of conservation on Svalbard

The most frequently occurring category of conservation form is nature reserve on Svalbard, which also forms the largest conservation area (41 per cent of the group of islands). The group of islands has a total of 25 200 km² of nature reserves; approximately the same area as the national parks on the mainland. The largest nature reserve on Svalbard is Bjørnøya, at 177 km². The smallest nature reserve is the bird sanctuary Guissezholmen, which is less than 1 km². There are 21 nature reserves on Svalbard, but more than 2 000 on the mainland. There were 38 new conservations of nature reserves on the mainland in 2011, however these cover very little area compared to the extension of the nature reserve area on Svalbard.

Landscape protected areas have increased in size

During 2011, landscape protected areas increased in total by more than 1 000 km² on the mainland. Landscape protected areas, with 17 300 km², make up an important part of the total area of conservation areas on the mainland (32 per cent). Møre og Romsdal has clearly the largest area, with more than 2 500 km². All the counties have landscape protected areas, however Svalbard has no landscape protected areas.

Number of registered cultural heritage objects dominates on the mainland

The amount of conservation areas in total is almost 99 000 for the mainland and Svalbard together. Of these, more then 97 000 are located on the mainland, while Svalbard has only 1 900 cultural heritage objects. However, the areas of cultural heritage objects make up an insignificant share of the total land area.

Highest number of new archaeological cultural heritage objects

Archaeological monuments and sites is the dominating category within cultural heritage both in terms of number and area, and was the category that had the highest number of new conservations in 2011. This is the situation on the mainland as well as on Svalbard, and totals more than 8 800. Archaeological monuments and sites make up 90 per cent of the total amount of cultural heritage. This is reflected in the distribution of archaeological monuments and sites on the mainland and Svalbard, where they make up 89 and 73 per cent respectively. The area of archaeological monuments and sites covers more than 70 per cent of the total protected area by cultural heritage objects. On Svalbard, most of them are located along the cost, while for the mainland it is the inland county Hedmark that has the highest number of registered archaeological monuments and sites.

Listed buildings are plentiful but cover less area

On the mainland, listed buildings make up 6 per cent of the total amount of cultural heritage, while on Svalbard they make up 14 per cent. Among the counties, Oppland has most listed buildings.

Cultural environments make up about 53 km². Buskerud makes up 58 per cent of these protected areas. The total area of protection zones makes up 5 per cent of the total area of cultural heritage objects on the mainland. Finnmark is the county with the most protection zones. Not all counties have cultural environments or protection zones. Svalbard has neither cultural environments nor protection zones.

1 The mainland consists of the mainland of Norway with islands. Svalbard is not included.2 Corrected 27 August 2012.