FEATURE
REGIONAL SYSTEMS Why They Matter More Than You Might Think BY HANS CHRISTIAN NILSEN
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orth of the Arctic Circle. Where the sun never sets during summer and never rises at winter. Where you, if lucky, can spot the majestic Northern Lights coloring the sky with its hypnotic green light. Here in the northern part of Norway you will find Rognan, a small town with approximately 2500 inhabitants. Almost 10% of them are working at the local Nexans plant, providing the world with customized submarine fiber optic cables waiting to be put under seas. Waiting to connect the world. “I guess we can say, we know a whole lot about regional systems. In Rognan, we understand what it’s like having to depend on others” When it comes to rural communities all over the world, Rognan have a lot in common with many of them. Small, remote and distant places, often in very sensitive environments, far from the usual range of services and solutions generously offered in larger urban areas. But still in need of the same high- quality services for health-
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care, education and communication as in any metropolitan area in the world. Like the riverbed communities in the Amazonas.
THE AMAZONAS. IN A WAY, QUITE SIMILAR TO THE NORTHERN PART OF NORWAY.
From a landscape point of view, the Amazonas is in many ways as inaccessible as the northern parts of Norway. The Amazonas has its river and rainforest. Norway has its mountains and fjords. Beautiful sceneries, nature at its finest. Serving as the lungs of the world, the rainforest of Amazonas is a fragile area, utterly vulnerable to any impact on its delicate ecological and biological systems. Even though it is expected to carry the world’s need of fresh air on its shoulders, the rural communities in the jungle must also be given a chance to develop like any other society. The needs care little for where they are situated, right? You cannot just