Natur og Ungdom

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Natur og Ungdom

Type	NGO
Founded	November 18, 1967
Headquarters	Oslo, Norway
Area served	Norway
Key people	Ingeborg Gjærum (chairman) Sunniva Pettersen Eidsvoll (general secretary)
Industry	Environmentalism
Employees	12 (2007)
Website	www.nu.no

Natur og Ungdom (NU) (lit: Nature and Youth) or Friends of the Earth Youth Norway is a Norwegian youth environment protecting organisation. It is the only environmentalist youth organisation in Norway. 80 local groups work on environmental issues all over the country. The organisation has about 6,100 members. Officially NU is the youth branch of the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature. The organisation is led by Ingeborg Gjærum.

The main issues the organisation works with include petroleum, public transport, energy and nature conservation. In addition to local groups there is a central board with 14 members that works on national issues and an administration, both located in Oslo.

Natur og Ungdom is a member of Friends of the Earth International and an active participant in the A SEED network (Action for Solidarity, Equality, Environment and Development). It published the magazine Putsj.

[edit] History

In 1967 the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature had announced that they wanted a youth organisation, and the two organisations Norsk Feltbiologisk Ungdomsforening (NFU) and Oslo Katedralskoles Naturvernforening decided to merge on November 18, 1967. The organisation had a difficult start with few members and difficult organisation, but in the 1970s NU got better organised with more local groups. Focus in this period was agriculture. But in the 1970s nuclear power became a hot issue in Norway and NU gained organisational strength as it opposed the plans, and won a victory when it was decided to not build nuclear power in Norway.

Through the 1970s and 1980s the organisation worked with many issues, including the Alta controversy, and also to prevent environmental contamination, especially from industry. In 1984 members from NU and Greenpeace chained themselves to the factory Titania in Sokndal in a civil disobedience action to prohibit the dumping of 2.2 million tonnes oil and rockdust mixed with chemicals in Dyngadjupet in Jøssingfjord. This was the first civil disobedience. In 1990 Titania was required to deposit the waste on land, like the environmentalists had demanded.

During the end of the 1980s environmentalism grew among the general population, further strengthening the organisation with more members and local groups. In 1991 NU was the prim organisation in the Rotvoll controversy. In the EU referendum in 1994 NU worked actively against EU membership. During the late 1990s the main focus has been on trying to prevent the building of natural gas power plants in Norway and in the 2000s stopping the opening of the Barents Sea for petroleum production.