Truls Gulowsen, head of the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature, said: “We will fight for every single protected watercourse, for every river, every waterfall and every lake.
The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) has previously said there is little power to be gained from exploiting rivers without significant interventions into nature.
Campaigners protested outside the Norwegian parliament on Tuesday and presented a petition opposing hydropower development in protected waterways that they said gathered 25,000 signatures.
The Norwegian parliament has voted to open up protected rivers to hydropower plants, prompting fury from conservation groups who fear for the fate of fish and other wildlife.
Pål Mugaas, a spokesperson for Norske Lakseelver (Norwegian Salmon Rivers), said: “It’s a sad day for the wild salmon and all the other species in what was supposed to be permanently protected rivers.”.
