Prudent development - a shared responsibility
3 Contents of the strategy
Sustainable development incorporates three interdependent and mutually reinforcing dimensions:
 | the economic dimension (economic resources, development and growth) |
| the social dimension (social resources, solidarity and poverty reduction) and |
| the environmental dimension (natural resources, protecting and exploiting nature sustainably and preventing and combating pollution). |
Sustainable development is an ongoing process that involves improving the integration of environmental, economic and social considerations.
In recent years Denmark has been successful in its efforts to integrate environmental considerations into policies and decisions. Over the coming years Denmark will continue to give high priority to making further strides in achieving sustainable development in this manner. The integration of environmental considerations into sector policies will open up opportunities for the promotion of growth, employment and welfare while raising awareness of environmental concerns.
The social dimension is another integral part of Denmark's general vision and objectives for sustainable development and a sustainable society. In the strategy, measures to fight poverty and social inequality are an essential element in Denmark's international efforts and issues such as employment and employee involvement are some of the efforts undertaken in the sectors. Challenges such as employment, public services, taxes and debt are also dealt with separately in the Government's programme for the next ten years: "A Sustainable Future - Denmark 2010" (January 2001). The macroeconomic framework is continuously monitored in the Government's publication, "Economic Overview". Moreover, the Government has issued the publication entitled "A Sustainable Pensions System" (January 2000). The distributional aspects of the socioeconomic development are considered in the annual publication, "Families and Income".
The national strategy for sustainable development describes the objectives and activities required to enable Denmark to contribute to sustainable development. Sustainable development affects all activities in society, and in the strategy it has been necessary to focus on the most important key sectors and policy areas. The strategy focuses on the work to integrate environmental considerations in eight selected sectors. The sectors are agriculture and fisheries (under the heading of "food production"), forestry, industry, trade and services, transport, energy, urban and housing development and tourism.
The strategy also deals with important social challenges such as the threat from man-made climate changes, the correlation between the environment and health, more efficient resource consumption and the protection of biodiversity. The international initiatives, measures and knowledge base and the population's participation are important to all sectors and areas and are therefore necessary elements.
The strategy covers a period of twenty years. For each area of activity, Denmark presents its longterm objectives and benchmarks towards 2020. Development perspectives and challenges as well as objectives and activities for the first period from 2001 to 2006 are described. The strategy is a combined framework for Denmark's national initiatives for sustainable development.
The visions and objectives of the strategy will be followed up by action plans, programmes and concrete initiatives within the sectors and areas concerned. In its present form, the strategy does not specify expenditure for the individual areas since this serves no purpose in a perspective of twenty years. A decision about expenditure in an area requires the preparation of a concrete decisionmaking basis to assess the relationship between the advantages and costs of a given initiative. Measures to ensure sustainable development in the form of specific initiatives, action plans, etc. will be included in the ongoing socioeconomic prioritisation.
Indicators for sustainable development enable us to monitor how far we have come in meeting the objectives. The Government will develop indicators that can follow Denmark's progress in fulfilling essential objectives and activities in the strategy. The strategy will be adjusted at least every five years to ensure that a new edition is ready for a UN event five years after the World Summit on Sustainable Development.