Hey, what “Barents”?

The Barents region stretches over four countries up north: Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. The northern areas of these countries has been cooperating and done trading with each other for ages, but the formal cooperation within the Barents Euro-Arctic Region (yeah that’s the full name) was decided in 1993 at a conference in Kirkenes, Norway.

We got a lot in common up north, and we also have a lot to learn from each other. Stuff that are the same around here are things like great nature, long distances between the cities (but short distances within the cities as they generally are quite small), we have loads of natural resources but not that much people. There are many more things to add to the list, maybe you could help us? Just post a comment.

Map from http://www.barentsinfo.fi

These län, fylken, oblast, okrugs are included in the Barents region:

Norway: Nordland, Troms, Finnmark

Sweden: Norrbotten, Västerbotten

Finland: Lappland, Oulu, Kainuu

Russia: Murmansk, Karelia, Komi, Nenets, Arkhangelsk

There are also three indigenous people living here, indigenous meaning they where living here before the country borders where set. These are the sami, nenets and veps.

We who work with The Reggae Rock and Rights Tour love living in Barents. We love it so much that we want to share it with the rest of the world. Through blogs, through youth work, through a tour.