ABSTRACT
The worldwide loss of biodiversity is recognised as one of today's greatest global environmental problems. This chapter looks into how Norwegian authorities handle biodiversity-related policies in the potential crossfire between international environmental agreements and sub-national actor interests. It demonstrates that there is a very high correlation between domestic and international goals, but that international goals have been much more easily attained. From a wide range of sub-topics within the biodiversity field, the forest sector is selected for an in-depth analysis of how domestic and international institutions can shed light on the limited goal attainment. The analysis suggests that insufficient legal and economic instruments applied for biodiversity protection constitute the major explanatory factors. The chapter winds up with a discussion of alternative explanatory perspectives and argues that the shortcomings are confounded by a general lack of technological solutions to stem the pressure on species and habitats.
