The Bellona Foundation is an international environmental

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with branches in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Founded in 1986 by

Frederic Hauge Frederic Hauge (born 15 August 1965) is a Norwegian environmental activist. He is head of the Bellona Foundation which he co-founded in 1986. Bellona is an international environmental NGO based in countries such as Russia, the United States, Norw ...

and Rune Haaland as a

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

protest group to curb Norway's oil and gas industry pollution, it grew to be multi-disciplinary and multinational in scope and in present day maintains offices in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Murmansk Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') i ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Bellona works with ecologists, specialists in the natural and social sciences, engineers, economists, attorneys, and journalists to accomplish its objectives.

Goals

In order to solve environmental issues, Bellona collaborates with organizations of environmental activists, scientific professionals, governments, and other NGOs. These include addressing the effects of climate change, eradicating Russia's nuclear legacy from the Cold War, and ensuring the security of oil and gas production and processing in Norway and Europe. Bellona created the so-called "B7" collaboration initiative with the commercial sector in 1998. It specified preferential goals, individual projects, and programs to deal with the environmental concerns and issues. Altogether, seven focus areas were determined:

environmental rights Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks ...

, international environment work, environmental management, environmental economy, environmental technology, energy and Envirofacts.

History

In 1994, the Bellona Foundation's report "Sources of Radioactive Contamination in Murmansk and Archangel Counties" raised serious concerns about the safety of the decommissioned soviet nuclear-powered submarines after the dissolution of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. In February 1996, Russian FSB arrested Bellona's Russian expert

Alexander Nikitin Alexander Konstantinovich Nikitin (russian: Алекса́ндр Константи́нович Ники́тин; born 16 May 1952) is a Russian former submarine officer and nuclear safety inspector turned environmentalist. In 1996 he was accused ...

, a former Soviet naval officer, and charged him with

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

through espionage for his contributions to Bellona's report on the

nuclear safety Nuclear safety is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the ...

within the

Russian Northern Fleet Severnyy flot , image = Great emblem of the Northern Fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Northern Fleet's great emblem , start_date = June 1, 1733; Sov ...

. The Russian Supreme Court completely exonerated him in 2000. In 2003, Bellona accessed

radioactive contamination Radioactive contamination, also called radiological pollution, is the deposition of, or presence of radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids, or gases (including the human body), where their presence is unintended or undesirab ...

Sellafield Sellafield is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste processing and storage and nuclear decommissioning. Former activities included nucle ...

nuclear reprocessing facility in England. At the

2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 and 18 December. The conference included the 15th session of the Conference of the Partie ...

(COP15) in Copenhagen, Bellona presented "101 Solutions to Climate Change". In 2013, Bellona Foundation filed a police report after it learned that a "disposal well in the Norwegian Sea owned by Norway’s state oil company Statoil leaked 3,428 tons of hazardous chemicals and oil-based drilling fluids over six years at the Njord site".

Strategy

Since the B7 program's inception in 1998, more than 100 companies, organizations, and enterprises have participated. In 2003, among Bellona's B7 partnership program with business and industry were: Aker Kværner, Aker RGI, Applied Plasma Physics, Bertel O. Steen, Braathens, Conoco Phillips Norway, Coop Norge, E-CO, Eidesvik, Eiendomsspar, Energos Energy and Industry, Eramet, Ferrolegeringens Forskningsforening, Norwegian Fishing Vessels Owners Association, Fred Olsen, Marine Harvest, Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO), Federation of Norwegian Processing Industries (PIL), Norway Post, Select Service Partner, Water Power Industries (WPI), Uniteam, Norske Shel, Skretting, Statkraft, and

Statoil Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian state owned enterprise, state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company, operating in 36 countries with ad ...

. As a consequence of the Bellona Foundation's realization that the environmental movement would not be able to drive the required adjustments to fight the looming challenges to the environment on its own, the organization began working with industry and business. Through B7 program, Bellona wanted to aid those enterprises that were willing to take the environment protection in earnest. It also wanted to offer businesses an arena on which they could take the step from being a part of the problem to becoming a part of the solution. Additionally, Bellona has contributed to the promotion of renewable energy in Russia.

Funding

Bellona's yearly spending was 25 million Norwegian Kroner (NOK) in 2001. Among the sources: 10 million Norwegian kroner came from selling advertising; 6 million was received from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for projects in Russia, and 1 million was received from the Norwegian government for general purposes; 6 million was received from business sector to implement the B7 program; 2 million came from sales of reports, donations and gifts.

Criticism

In Norway, the Bellona Foundation was criticized for "publicity seeking", and in Russia — for accepting funds from the Norwegian government. Some maintain that Bellona damaged its environmental credibility by "cooperating with market agents", transforming it into more of a consultancy for private companies than an environmental NGO.Grendstad, Gunnar.
Unique Environmentalism: A Comparative Perspective
'. New York: Springer, 2006, p.125.

References

External links

Bellona Foundation
''Official website in English, Norwegian and Russian'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bellona Foundation Environmental organisations based in Norway Foundations based in Norway Anti–nuclear power movement