Magnar Norderhaug was a Norwegian zoologist and ecologist.

He was a cand.real. by education. He worked at the Norwegian Polar Institute

Norwegian Polar Institute

The Norwegian Polar Institute is Norway's national institution for polar research. It is run under the auspices of the Norwegian Ministry of Environment. The institute organizes expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic regions and runs a research station at Ny-Ålesund...

 from 1967 to 1972, in Vestfold County Municipality from 1972 to 1973, as the Southern Norway inspector of nature protection from 1973 to 1985, then for the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation

Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation

The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation is a directorate under the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its task is to ensure effective foreign aid, with quality assurance and evaluation. NORAD both finances NGOs, and does its own research and projects. The current director general is...

 from 1985 to 1989. From 1989 he chaired the Nordic

Nordic countries

The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...

 branch of the Worldwatch Institute

Worldwatch Institute

The Worldwatch Institute is a globally focused environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C. Worldwatch was named as one of the top ten sustainable development research organizations by Globescan Survey of Sustainability Experts.-Mission:...

. He was also among the founders of Greenpeace

Greenpeace

Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...

 in Norway in 1988, as well as a board member of the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature

Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature

The Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature , also known as Friends of the Earth Norway and commonly abbreviated NNV is the largest Norwegian environmental organization with 28,000 members. The organization is based on a volunteer work among the members, constituting work both at local and...

. He published several books.

He was proclaimed a Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 2004. He died in April 2006.