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FNI is an independent foundation engaged in research on international environmental, energy and resource management politics and law.

OUR RESEARCH AREAS

Global environmental governance and law
- The efficiency of UN environmental organs
- Linkages between international environmental agreements
- Theoretical studies: Regime theory, institutional design and effectiveness
- International environmental law
Climate change
- International climate negotiations, within and outside the UN
- Climate policies and domestic climate politics of key actors, including the EU, China, Russia and USA
- Climate-related energy policy
- Climate change adaptation capacity and policies
Law of the Sea and marine affairs
- Law of the Sea and maritime jurisdiction
- Regional marine issues (incl. Arctic, Barents Sea, NE Atlantic, Antarctica and Adriatic)
- Maritime transport and environmental protection
- Marine pollution and ballast water issues
- International management of fisheries and whaling
- Illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing
Biodiversity and genetic resources
- International agreements on biodiversity: Negotiations and implementation
- Biotechnology and biosafety
- Interacting regimes: Access to genetic resources versus patent legislation; bioprospecting
- Plant genetic resources for food and agriculture; farmers' rights
- Forest politics and certification (ecolabelling)
Polar and Russian politics
- Norwegian-Russian relations in the High North (environment, energy, fisheries, health, security and jurisdiction
- Environmental and resource management policies of Russia and other post-Soviet states
- Political and economical framework for Russian oil and gas industry
- Regional politics of the Russian North
- International cooperation in the Arctic
European energy and environment
- EU climate change policy and greenhouse gas emissions trading
- Cooperation on transboundary pollution, marine issues and biodiversity
- European energy markets and policies
- Energy technology policy
- Corporate social responsibility
Chinese energy and environment
- Climate policies
- Dam building, resettlement and water management
- Energy policies
- Environmental bureaucracy and law
- Arctic policies

Photo: Prospect Magazine

FNI wins think tank award

Photo: FNI

How green is wind power?

Photo: Malin Alette Hansen/Norwegian Polar Institute

China–Nordic cooperation

LATEST FNI NEWS

FNI presents study on national implementation of the UN Biodiversity Convention
20.07.2018
Biodiversity is not high enough on countries’ political agendas to affect the main drivers of biodiversity loss. Therefore major implementation gaps remain in meeting the global targets for biodiversity that have been agreed internationally for 2020.
Double win: FNI wins prestigious think tank award two years in a row
17.07.2018
Once again, the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI) has been voted ‘best European think tank’ in the field of energy and environment.
FNI nominated for think tank awards - again
03.07.2018
For the third consecutive year, FNI has been nominated for the Prospect Think Tank Awards as best European think tank in the energy and environment category. FNI has already won the price once, in 2017.

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FNI IN MEDIA

Ordfører vil invitere til toppmøte i nord: – Beundringsverdig utenrikspolitisk entreprenørskap ('Mayor wants to invite to a summit in the North: - Admirable craftmanship of international politics')
NRK, 15.08.2018. In Norwegian.
Norway’s Border with Russia Shapes Its Arctic Policy New Study Concludes
High North News, 14.08.2018.
Hoe een Drent patent kreeg op een duizend jaar oud Ethiopisch 'superfood' ('How Drent got a patent on a thousand year old 'superfood'')
De Volkskrant, 14.08.2018. In Dutch.

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LATEST PUBLICATIONS

Geopolitics and Security in the Arctic

Andreas Østhagen

In Mark Nuttall, Torben R. Christensen and Martin Siegert (eds), Routledge Handbook of the Polar Regions. Abingdon, Routledge, 2018, pp. 348-356.
Globalization, Governance Gaps, and the Emergence of New Institutions for Political Consumerism

Lars H. Gulbrandsen

In Magnus Boström, Michele Micheletti, and Peter Oosterveer (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Political Consumerism. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2018, pp. 1-25.
Addressing Climate Change in China: Policies and Governance

Gørild Heggelund

In Adriana Galderisi and Angela Colucci (eds), Smart, Resilient and Transition Cities. Emerging Approaches and Tools for a Climate-Sensitive Urban Development. Amsterdam/Oxford/Cambridge MA, Elsevier, 2018, pp. 61-65.
At Opposite Poles: Canada’s and Norway’s approaches to security in the Arctic

Andreas Østhagen, Gregory Levi Sharp and Paal Sigurd Hilde

Polar Journal, Vol 8, No 1, 2018, pp. 163-181.
China’s Arctic Policy – what now?

Iselin Stensdal

DNAK News, 06.07.2018.
Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM): Fremdriftsrapport Norge 2016 - 2018 / Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM): Norway Progress Report 2016-2018

Pål Wilter Skedsmo

Independent Reporting Mechanism Progress Reports. Washington DC, Open Government Partnership, 2018, 46 p. In Norwegian and English.
Фодченко И.П. Оператор трансграничного месторождения углеводородов – правовой анализ Договора между Российской Федерацией и Королевством Норвегия о разграничении морских пространств и сотрудничестве в Баренцевом море и Северном Ледовитом океане ('Operator of a cross-border hydrocarbon field: A Legal analysis of the Treaty between the Kingdom of Norway and the Russian Federation concerning Maritime Delimitation and Cooperation in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean')

Irina Fodchenko

Problems of Russian and International Law, Vol 8, No 4a, 2018, pp. 177-197. In Russian.

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New book: The EU and the geopolitics of the Arctic

29 August Law and Governance of Marine and Plant Genetic Resources
11:00

FNI

Publication ranking

Top position for FNI in new publication ranking

Once again, the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI) ranks as the number one most publishing independent research institute in Norway.

Fridtjof Nansen and Polhøgda

FNI seeks Master's students (Information in Norwegian)

Photo: IPCC

FNI researcher selected for UN Climate Panel

FNI researcher Jørgen Wettestad has been selected to participate as a Lead Author for the Working Group III contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6).

Photo: David Goldman/Associated Press

China releases first ever Arctic policy

According to the white paper, China aims to promote peace and security in the Arctic, while conforming to the international rules of the game – above all the Law of the Sea.

Arctic Governance: Energy, Living Marine Resources and Shipping. Volume 2.

Svein Vigeland Rottem and Ida Folkestad Soltvedt (eds)

London, I.B. Tauris, 2018, 290 p.
Norge og klimakrisen: Debatten om olje og gass i det grønne skiftet ('Norway and the climate crisis: The debate on oil and gas towards a green transition')

Leif Christian Jensen, Øystein Jensen and Pål Wilter Skedsmo

Oslo, Novus, 2018, 104 p.
The Evolution of Carbon Markets: Design and Diffusion

Jørgen Wettestad and Lars H.Gulbrandsen (eds)

London/New York, Routledge, 2018, 262 p.

JCLOS

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