Toll gates “a nuisance to locals and tourists alike”

The highly contested matter of freedom to explore nature is once again making headlines.

Hagafelagið, an interest organisation aiming to secure public access to the wilderness, has called on all political parties to reconsider their stance on toll gates in tourist hotspots.

“We’re heading in the wrong direction by setting up all these toll gates,” says a Hagafelagið spokeswoman.

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“Our laws are usually based on the practices of neighbouring countries. These countries tend to have values and systems that are similar to ours, and they are often more advanced than us. In these countries, the so-called ‘everyman’s right’ principle, or the right of public access to the wilderness, is enshrined in legislation.”

Hagafelagið wants politicians to realise that the growing number of toll gates not only sends a negative signal to tourists; it also discourages Faroese people from exploring the countryside.

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“These gates are very unsympathetic, and they alienate Faroese people from their natural environment. Public access to nature used to be an unquestionable right,” says the spokeswoman.

“We should do something about this immediately rather than experimenting with alternatives. When all the countries around us operate on the everyman’s right principle, why should we try to reinvent the wheel?”

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

More Faroese News in English.