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Prudent development - a shared responsibility

8 Denmark's international activities

Denmark's vision for regional and global sustainable development foresees a Europe and a world enjoying economic progress, increased welfare and better environmental protection. It encompasses a world market with free trade based on high environmental and social standards coupled with respect for human rights, democratisation, openness and administrative accountability. Denmark wishes to take the lead by putting words into action. Through both its foreign and environment policy, Denmark will work actively to promote international endeavours. It will expand international assistance as agreed, and cement the interconnections between development, environment and trade policies. Denmark favours a strong global structure aimed at promoting all the elements of global sustainable development, including a structure that furthers international environmental cooperation and control. Denmark will work towards a global deal on sustainable development and global partnership.

Activities aimed at promoting sustainable development nationally are closely linked to the challenges for global sustainable development - and vice versa. Growing trade and international capital flows, conflicts and refugee problems together with the heightened impact on natural resources have made individual countries more dependent on the surrounding world. Consequently, Denmark has a major interest in contributing to sustainable development through national activities, through the EU, the OECD, the UN and the international financial institutions.

We are facing a multiplicity of regional and global problems and challenges. Half the population of the world live at or below the subsistence minimum. One fifth of the world's population live without access to clean water and sanitary appliances, a state of affairs particularly affecting women, children, indigenous peoples and other vulnerable groups. The struggle for scarce natural resources has frequently given rise to violent conflicts which cause severe refugee problems in developing countries. The climate is becoming warmer as a consequence of mankind's activities, primarily posing a threat to poor countries and small island states. Biodiversity is under mounting pressure, and natural resources are often exploited on a nonsustainable basis. The use of hazardous chemicals constitutes a growing threat to human health and animal and plant life. The rich part of the world reinforces these problems through its reluctance to increase aid volumes and open its markets.

Poverty and environmental problems are often interlinked. The poorest people are generally hardest hit by environmental degradation. Poverty limits the possibilities of using natural resources sustainably and restricts the resources available for investment in environmental protection. Poverty contributes, for instance, to impoverishment of the soil and desertification in Africa. Conversely, unchecked economic growth also leads to intensified use of natural resources and heavier impact on the environment. In all its international activities, Denmark weighs the need for integrating and balancing the economic dimension (povertybased growth), the social dimension (equal distribution internally in a country, between countries and between generations) and the environmental dimension (environment protection).

In the field of environment policy, through its EU cooperation Denmark has participated actively in improving European environmental protection. In a number of areas, EU environmental control measures have made Europe a world leader in the field of environment, and examples abound to demonstrate how EU regulations have reinforced Denmark's environmental protection. With the adoption of the Amsterdam Treaty, sustainable development became an overall objective for the EU, and it became mandatory to integrate environmental considerations into EU sector policies. EU economic-political guidelines contain a special section on sustainable development. Denmark has - primarily through the EU - advocated binding and effective controls of international environmental problems through regional and global environmental conventions. This applies to the conventions concerning biodiversity, climate and desertification, as well as to the Basel Convention on transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and to conventions on chemicals, for instance the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Denmark has campaigned in favour of coordinating and enforcing the conventions efficiently and of giving the precautionary principle a pivotal role in the regulations.

Denmark is one of the few countries that have led the way to making increased, new (additional) means available to developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Official development assistance has increased to 1 per cent of the gross national product (GNP) in the course of the 1990s. Furthermore, Denmark has set up the Environment, Peace and Stability Fund as a direct response to the 1992 Rio conference. In 2001, this facility is deploying 0. 18 per cent of GNP (corresponding to more than DKK 2 billion) for environmental activities in Central and Eastern Europe, developing countries and the Arctic regions. The share will increase to 0. 25 per cent of GNP in 2005. Under the Environment, Peace and Stability Fund another 0. 18 per cent is used for refugees and conflict prevention.

Environmental assistance is primarily granted bilaterally - from Denmark directly to another country. But Denmark also provides multilateral assistance through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Multilateral Fund under the Montreal protocol aimed at financing the phasingout of ozone-depleting substances etc. Bilateral environmental assistance under the Environment, Peace and Stability Fund is distributed via separate facilities for Central and Eastern Europe (Dancee), for the Arctic regions (Dancea) and for the poorest developing countries (Danida) and selected developing countries (Danced). In Central and Eastern Europe, environmental assistance is targeted at solving urgent environmental problems and implementing the EU's environmental regulations in the candidate countries. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, a wide range of concrete environmental projects have been realised that in many ways improve the environment in Denmark's neighbouring areas. In the developing countries, assistance to the poorest countries is focused on alleviating poverty-associated pressure on nature and the environment. In the richer developing countries with higher economic activity, assistance is aimed at helping countries to protect nature and the environment, primarily by strengthening the capacity of the countries themselves to solve the problems and by raising environmental awareness. In the Arctic regions, transboundary pollution is monitored as an indicator of regional and global pollution because the polar area is extremely environmentally fragile. Finally, a range of environmental projects are being implemented in Greenland.

Denmark's official development assistance amounts to an annual 1 per cent of GNP (DKK 12. 7 billion in 2001). The overall objective is to reduce poverty so that neither natural nor social resources are over-exploited. Considerations for the environment, women, democratisation, good governance and respect for human rights are integrated into all aspects of the assistance. These objectives have been manifested in the Government's strategy for Danish development policy, Partnership 2000. Denmark has thus designed its development policy to contribute to global sustainable development. As a result, Denmark is awarded top marks in the OECD's periodic review of development assistance.

Denmark contributes with significant support in areas relevant to sustainable development. Specifically support is provided to address the issue of water, helping to secure millions of poor people access to water and working to protect water sources - for example by planting trees and by accumulating capacity for sustainable management. In the area of energy, Denmark supports wind farms and sustainable energy supply in rural districts, where, for example, poor women receive help to plant firewood, providing them with an income while also protecting the environment. In the field of natural resources, Denmark is actively supporting reinforcement of sustainable management to prevent the impoverishment of soil.

Denmark also supports the use of sustainable energy through trust-fund contributions to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Through private sector development programmes involving Danish companies and companies in developing countries, Denmark contributes to promoting environmental improvement in companies. Denmark earmarks significant assistance for building up effective environmental management in a range of countries.

Denmark grants considerable assistance to international organisations, not least the UN system, where all the countries of the world participate on an equal footing. In this context, Denmark has supported rationalisation and streamlining in the UN to improve the distribution of work between the organisations and efforts to prevent overlapping. In the field of the environment, Denmark has worked actively to reinforce the Global Environment Facility financially and organisationally. Similarly, Denmark will continue its high financial and organisational assistance to the UN Environment Programme, UNEP. Denmark is also striving to strengthen the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, CSD.

Objectives and activities 2001-2006

Denmark supports the overall objective of global sustainable development by:

	ensuring decoupling, i. e. severing the link between economic growth and depletion of the natural basis,
	integrating environmental considerations into policies and decisions,
	ensuring continuous progress in the global environmental agenda,
	promoting economic cooperation and partnership for development, including reducing global poverty and regulating trade and investments,
	contributing to international peace and stability and working to promote democracy and human rights,
	working towards continuous development and democratisation of international cooperation with the emphasis on openness and enhanced participation of the weakest groups.

In the EU, Denmark will continue its efforts to foster integration of environmental considerations into all policy areas with a view to achieving sustainable development. Denmark will strive to ensure that the EU heads of state and government assess the outcome of this work regularly.

In connection with the European Council Summit in Gothenburg in June 2001, the heads of state and government adopted a long-term strategy for sustainable development, setting up specific objectives for health and the environment. The strategy recommends that the EU spring summits under the Lisbon process address environmental sustainable development on a par with social and economic sustainable development. The strategy primarily deals with policies within the EU. However, it is to be followed by a second phase dealing with the EU's external relations. The strategy will be closely linked with the objectives contained in the EU's Sixth Environment Action Programme, which will be discussed in parallel to the overall strategy for sustainable development. The EU's Sixth Environment Action Programme sets the framework for EU environment policy and for the integration of environmental considerations into all policy areas for the next ten years. Denmark is striving to make environmental teaching about the environment and the development of greater environmental awareness - not least among the young - an aspect of EU work on sustainable development.

The EU will remain a pivot for Denmark's international environmental activities. Denmark seeks to bolster EU environmental control, one reason being that only a unified EU can achieve satisfactory results in negotiations with the other regions of the world. Therefore, EU cooperation will remain an integral part of Denmark's regional and global activities. The Danish EU presidency in the autumn of 2002 will offer Denmark special opportunities for setting high-priority goals on the agenda - not only within the EU but also in the broader international context in which the EU plays a part.

An important goal for Denmark is for applicant countries to be admitted to the EU without long transition periods. In addition to enabling considerable progress in health and the environment in the applicant countries, speedy and full accession will pave the way for economic progress and political stability in the region. By lifting the applicant countries to the environmental level of the current EU member states, we will also consolidate the EU in international environmental negotiations.

Denmark has worked actively for sustainable development and the integration of environmental considerations in OECD work. In May 2001, Denmark chaired an OECD summit on sustainable development, where ministers for the environment, economy and finance all participated. At the meeting, the OECD countries adopted a strategy for sustainable development which establishes a framework for integration of economic, social and environmental objectives and for decoupling economic development from environmental impact. On Denmark's initiative, the outcome of the meeting was that the OECD will develop sustainable development indicators to measure progress, and the indicators will be incorporated in the OECD's review of member countries. Denmark will work actively to ensure that the OECD's work on sustainable development is followed up.

Through its development cooperation and longterm binding partnerships with selected developing countries, Denmark helps reduce poverty in the world. The partnerships are aimed at enhancing the possibilities of the developing countries of creating economically, socially and environmentally sustainable development processes that favour the poor. Development assistance of 1 per cent of GNP also aids the environmental dimension by integrating environmental considerations into all aspects of development activities. Denmark supports the efforts of developing countries to consider the environment in their development processes by building up capacity among the authorities, among local associations, in civil society and in the private sector. The activities must take into account the situation of developing countries, their needs and priorities, their abilities and capacity and their economic and social development.

In the multilateral context, Denmark will also continue calling on international associations to integrate environmental considerations into their development work. Finally, Denmark will coordinate and ensure efficient utilisation of the possible interaction between bilateral and multilateral activities and between the assistance granted under Denmark's official development assistance and the environmental assistance under the Environment, Peace and Stability Fund. This fund for environmental assistance to developing countries will increase in the coming years, and in 2005 will account for 0. 25 per cent of GNP. The assistance is explicitly targeted at ensuring environmentally sustainable exploitation of natural resources and nature preservation, at preventing and limiting air and water pollution and soil contamination and at promoting sustainable energy use. Denmark shares an interest with the recipient countries in limiting global environmental problems and in supporting developing countries in their efforts to achieve greater wealth and welfare while also protecting the environment.

Denmark has formulated a new strategy which will form the basis for implementing environmental assistance to Central and Eastern Europe in 2001- 2006. The activities are aimed at solving a range of grave environmental problems facing the Central and Eastern European countries - not least regional and global environmental impact and the threat from unsafe nuclear power plants. Harmonisation of the Central and Eastern European applicant countries' environment regulations and implementation of regulations that reach the EU level will constitute the chief task in the years ahead.

Denmark's environmental assistance to the Arctic region will allow us to continue monitoring the environmental impact on the area as documentation of developments in regional and global environmental impact. In addition, Denmark will implement a range of concrete solutions to unresolved problems in Greenland.

In connection with both Denmark's official development assistance and the Environment, Peace and Stability Fund, attention will focus on a range of areas that promote sustainable development. One such area is the introduction of cleaner technology in power production. Another is agricultural technology that improves the yield of agricultural land and reduces the utilisation of pesticides and inappropriate fertilisers, thus also reducing the need for rural land and protecting the biodiversity of vulnerable ecosystems. The assistance will also go towards bolstering activities aimed at persuading recipient countries to comply with international environmental agreements.

Denmark will continue working actively to ensure that regional and global environment conventions call for increasingly effective control of a range of international environmental problems. Denmark will speak in favour of employing effective mechanisms for negotiating, enforcing and financing international environmental agreements, so that developing and Central and Eastern European countries are in a better position to comply with the agreements. The flexible mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol form an essential part of the efforts targeted at ensuring that the goals for sustainable development are achieved more efficiently. A major challenge lies ahead in translating the Kyoto Protocol into effective provisions and ensuring its ratification and entry into force internationally. Another Danish key issue calls for steering the international process towards sustainable production and use of chemicals by adopting a new initiative on mercury and other heavy metals.

In the upcoming WTO negotiations we should make sure that trade assumes a full and efficient role in fostering sustainable development. The negotiations should make certain that developing countries - especially the least developed countries - will be able to take full advantage of the liberalisation of trade, and that international trade policy and international environment policy mutually support each other. And we must be sure to include the social dimension of sustainable development with a view to avoiding the possibly negative effects of globalisation.

Environmental considerations should be given higher priority by clarifying the interrelations between the WTO regulations and trade regulations in international environment agreements that the WTO must subsequently respect. In addition, the WTO should in its regulations incorporate and recognise internationally agreed environmental principles, including the precautionary principle, as the basis of trade-policy measures. Another requirement is for steps benefiting both the environment and developing countries to respect access by individual industrialised countries to establishing efficient environmental policies, including laying down their own environmental standards.

We should improve access to the markets of the industrialised countries for products, where the developing countries are especially competitive. We should grant free access to all products from the least developed countries. The EU decision from February 2001 on granting duty- and quotafree access to EU markets for all products, with the exception of weapons and ammunition, from the least developed countries represents a significant step in the right direction.

Special allowance should be made for traderelated problems shared by peoples/populations that depend on the sustainable exploitation of marine or other natural resources.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa 2002 offers another opportunity for setting sustainability high on the international political agenda. Denmark will play a central role and hold a major responsibility in relation to the World Summit which is to be held in September 2002 during the Danish EU presidency.

The Government is striving to ensure that the World Summit results in a global deal on sustainable development and a global partnership. The agreement should be founded on joint, but differentiated responsibility and must:

	contain a specific acknowledgement by the rich part of the world in the form of decoupling economic growth from environmental impact on the one hand and heightened resource consumption on the other - not least in the areas of energy, waste, use of chemicals, and biodiversity,
	accommodate the need of developing countries for growth and poverty reduction, uphold objectives on development assistance, increase market access for the products of the poorest countries in particular, include debt relief, and stimulate investments in and the transfer of sustainable technology,
	lead to a strengthening of the global organisation of sustainable development and of the population's access to information and participation in environmental matters,
	persuade all countries to implement international environmental agreements and ensure that trade policy under the WTO involves and respects considerations concerning the environment, labour rights and sustainable development.

Denmark will also work actively to involve civil society and business in the preparations for the World Summit, by working closely with NGOs and trade and industry in Denmark, and by supporting NGO involvement in developing countries. The Summit should preferably bring about the launch of initiatives to strengthen public access to environmental information and participation.

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