Vidar Helgesen

Vidar Helgesen is a lawyer by training and has served in the Norwegian government as Minister of EEA and EU Affairs, Minister of Climate and Environment and chief of staff to Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

Prior to that, he served as President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Geneva, Switzerland).

In 2018, in recognition of his diplomatic and advocacy activities in connection with environmental protection, he was appointed Special Envoy to the High-level Panel on Building a Sustainable Ocean Economy, a project driven by Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg, which makes him responsible for leading and coordinating the Norwegian government’s efforts in that respect.

The establishment of the High Panel for Building a Sustainable Ocean Economy is the culmination of the current Norwegian government’s commitment to the recovery of marine life and its subsequent controlled exploitation, which was presented in 2017. This commitment specifies the place of the oceans in Norway’s foreign and development policies, as well as a strategy to promote the continued sustainable growth of ocean-related industries in Norway.

As a maritime country, Norway’s government believes it essential to contribute its knowledge to international-level work in favour of a sustainable use of the oceans. This is why Vidar Helgesen’s responsibilities at the head of this panel include reinforced cooperation, not only at the national level but also internationally, in particular alongside the UN’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, Peter Thomson.

Norway is not new to so-called “ocean sustainability”. It has played a noteworthy role in the fight for freeing the seas from plastic litter and microplastic pollution, in particular through the adoption of its resolution to the UN on the subject.