Norwegian climate policy affects the poorest

The below post is a translation of a Norwegian opinion piece that has been printed in the largest newspaper in Norway, Aftenposten.

Written by  Hanne Svarstad and Tor A. Benjaminsen

Many are aware that global climate change is likely to hit poor people the hardest. Few, on the other hand, know that there are measures to mitigate climate change in the Global South that today are implemented to the detriment of poor people. Even fewer are aware of Norway’s central role.

This takes place in an extensive enterprise in which oil-rich Norway masquerades itself as a global climate saviour with no mention of its own contributions to climate change.

“My heart hurts when I hear the name of that project. If you mention it again, I’ll leave! “

These are the words of a woman we interviewed in a village in the Kondoa district of Tanzania. The project she…