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A shared future - balanced development

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 espect for human rights, democratisation, openness and administrative accountability. 

Through both its foreign and environment policy, Denmark will work actively to promote international endeavours. Danish international assistance is well in excess of the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GNI. Denmark considers it important to maintain coherence between development, environment, and trade policy.

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 regulation. 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 global challenges for sustainable development - and vice   versa. Growing trade and international capital flows, conflicts and refugee flows together with the increasing pressure on natural resources have made individual countries progressively 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, the WTO and the international financial institutions including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

We are facing a multiplicity of regional and global challenges. Half the   population of the world live at or below the subsistence minimum. For example, one fifth of the world’s population live without access  to clean water and sanitation, a state of affairs particularly affecting women, children,  indigenous peoples and other particularly vulnerable population  groups.Thestruggle for scarce natural resources has frequently given rise to violent conflicts which cause severe refugee problems, particularly in developing countries. Analyses from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change show that climate changes are very likely already a reality.The greatest negative consequences of climate change are expected in developing countries. Biodiversity is under mounting pressure, and natural resources are often exploited on a non-sustainable basis. The use of hazardous chemicals is a growing problem for human health as well as flora and fauna.

Poverty and environmental problems are often interlinked. The poorest people are generally hardest hit by environmental degradation. At the same time, poverty limits the possibilities of exploiting   natural resourcesin a sustainable manner because the resources available for investment in environmental protection are limited. Poverty contributes, for instance, to impoverishment of the soil and desertification  in Africa. Incontrast, uncontrolled economic growth in developing countries, and more developed countries in the East and South often leads to increased use of natural resources and pressure on the environment.

In all its international activities for global sustainable development, Denmark emphasises the need for integrating and balancing the economic dimension (poverty-oriented growth), the social dimension (development of social sectors such as education and health) and the environmental dimension (environmental protection).  

Through 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 the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and to conventions on chemicals, for instance the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the IMO Convention on anti-fouling paint. 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 has led the way to making means available for environmental initiatives in developing countries and Central and Eastern Europe. Denmark has achieved this partly by raising its official development assistance, with the primary objective of combating poverty in developing countries, and partly through the establishment of the Environment, Peace and Stability Fund (MIFRESTA) as a response to the 1992 Rio conference. Since 1993, MIFRESTA has spent considerable funds on environmental efforts in developing countries, Eastern Europe, and the Arctic. MIFRESTA also includes activities for refugees and conflict prevention. Denmark is working actively to encourage the many countries - also EU countries - that provide less development assistance than the UN goal of 0.7 percent of GNI, to increase their contributions.

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 targeted at alleviating poverty-associated pressure on nature and the environment. In the richer developing countries with increasing 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 is being implemented in Greenland.

Environmental assistance is primarily granted bilaterally - from Denmark directly to another country. However, Denmark also provides multilateral support through, for instance, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Multilateral Fund under the Montreal Protocol aimed at financing phasingout ozone-depleting compounds by developing countries. Bilateral assistance under MIFRESTA has so far been provided to Central and Eastern Europe, the Arctic, and to a number of developing countries through separate schemes.

 
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 has granted significant support to building up effective environmental management in a range of countries. Danish development cooperation is primarily funded through official development assistance (DKK 12.6 billion in 2002). The overall objective is to promote sustainable development through poverty-oriented growth. Equal participation by women and men in the development process and consideration for the environment and democratisation are crucial in combating poverty and are therefore incorporated in all aspects of assistance. Denmark has thus designed its development policy to contribute to global sustainable development. As a result, Denmark has been awarded top marks in the OECD's periodic reviews of assistance, most recently in 1999.

In close and binding cooperation with the recipient countries, Denmark is contributing with significant support in areas relevant to sustainable development. Specifically, Denmark's activities 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 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 working to reinforce sustainable management and production to prevent the impoverishment of soil and desertification.

Denmark's contribution to sustainable development also includes 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 is working actively for rationalisation of the UN to improve the distribution of work between the organisations and avoid overlapping. In the field of the environment, Denmark is working to reinforce the Global Environment Facility financially and organisationally. Similarly, Denmark will continue its significant support to the UN Environment Programme, UNEP. Denmark is also striving to strengthen the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, the CSD.

Objectives and activities in the future

Denmark supports the overall objective of global sustainable development by:

	ensuring decoupling, i.e. breaking the link between economic growth, resource consumption and degradation of nature,
	integrating environmental considerations into policies and decisions,
	ensuring continuous progress in the global environmental agenda,
	promoting economic cooperation and partnership for development, including combating global poverty and regulating trade and investment,
	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 participation, including participation of the weakest groups,
	developing an environment policy that promotes realistic international cooperation on reducing pollution in the most costeffective manner,
	promoting mutually binding partnerships with the private sector.

User-administered forestry in Cambodia A large part of the rural population in Cambodia supplement their incomes by using forest products in and around villages. Exploitation of forest products will continue and is expected to grow in step with population growth and fiercer competition for natural resources. At the moment there is limited access to using the forests, and local communities have no legal claim to forest products. Denmark is supporting local user groups to get access to forest products and helping establish a legal framework to benefit local communities. Support includes developing procedures for user participation in monitoring sustainable administration of the resources. Members of the local communities are being trained in sustainable village-based forestry, including knowledge-building regarding regulations and legal conditions with regard to administration of forests. Danish support also includes research and collection of forest data which will be used in the preparation of new legislation.

In the EU, Denmark will continue 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.

At with the European Council 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 spring summits of the European Council address environmental sustainable development and social and economic sustainable development as an integrated part of the Lisbon process on employment, economic reform and social cohesion.The strategy primarily deals with policies within the EU. However, it is to be followed by a second phase dealing with the EU's global relations. The strategy will closely correspond to the targets in the EU Sixth Environment Action Programme. The 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 and work for sustainable development. In this connection, Denmark seeks to strengthen EU environmental regulation, 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 including highpriority 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 candidate countries to be admitted to the EU without long transition periods. In addition to enabling considerable progress in health and the environment in the candidate countries, speedy and full accession will pave the way for economic progress and political stability in the region. By lifting the candidate countries to the environmental level of the current EU Member States, we will also strengthen the EU in international environmental negotiations.

Under the auspices of the OECD, Denmark has worked for sustainable development and the integration of environmental considerations. In May 2001, an OECD Ministerial Council Meeting on sustainable development was held in Paris, 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 impacts.The outcome of the Ministerial Council Meeting was that the OECD will develop sustainable development indicators to measure progress, and the indicators will be incorporated in the OECD's evaluation of member countries. Denmark will work actively to ensure that the OECD's work on sustainable development and the integration of environmental considerations is followed up.

Through its development cooperation and longterm binding partnerships with selected developing countries, Denmark helps combat poverty in the world.The partnerships are aimed at enhancing the possibilities of the developing countries to create economically, socially and environmentally sustainable development processes that favour the poor. Development assistance also aids the environmental dimension of sustainable development 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. Similarly any environment initiatives by other donors should be included.

In the multilateral context, Denmark will also continue calling on international associations to integrate environmental considerations into their development work. Finally, Denmark will ensure effective exploitation of opportunities for interaction between bilateral and multilateral initiatives. Environment assistance for the developing countries is explicitly targeted at ensuring environmentally sustainable use of natural resources and conservation of nature; at preventing and limiting air and water pollution and soil contamination; and at promoting sustainable energy use. Denmark shares an interest with the partnership 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.

The Danish Government has prepared a new strategy that includes environmental assistance to Central and Eastern Europe in 2002-2003.The strategy implies that Danish efforts until the expected enlargement of the EU in 2004 are to concentrate on preparing candidate countries for accession to the EU, including assisting with developing the required administrative capacity and implementing the necessary environmental investments. Countries outside the group of applicants, primarily Russia, will also receive support. Following the expected EU enlargement, bilateral assistance to the new Member States will be replaced by assistance through the European Structural Funds, etc.The main areas for environmental assistance up to 2004 will be water, waste, and the nuclear area, as well as institutional development. In future, as far as possible, Danish environmental support will be through "joint implementation" in close cooperation with the Central and Eastern European countries.

Denmark's environmental support for the Arctic region will allow us to continue monitoring the environmental impact on the area to provide documentation of developments in regional and global environmental impacts. In addition, Denmark supports the implementation of a range of concrete solutions to unresolved problems in the fields of nature and the environment in cooperation with the Greenland Home Rule.The overall objective is to limit pollution of the environment and ensure conservation of nature in the Arctic, including support for implementation of the international Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy, and help to ensure environmental sustainable development with special emphasis on sustainable utilisation of natural resources in the Arctic.

In Denmark's environmental assistance, attention will focus on a range of areas that promote sustainable development. One such area is the introduction of cleaner technology in energy production. This also applies to agricultural technology that improves the yield of agricultural land and reduces the utilisation of pesticides and inappropriate fertilisers, thus also reducing the need for agricultural 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 provide for an increasingly effective regulation 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. Together with the other EU countries, Denmark has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, before the World Summit on Sustainable Development in August-September 2002. Another Danish key issue calls for encouraging the international process towards sustainable production and use of chemicals by adopting a new initiative on mercury and other heavy metals.

In November 2001 the WTO Conference of Ministers in Doha ended with the adoption of a declaration whereby a new round of negotiations was to commence that, for the first time, will be based on a "Development Agenda".The Agenda covers commencement of negotiations on clarification of the relationship between WTO rules and the trade regulations in multilateral environment agreements as well as liberalisation of trade in environmental goods and services. Moreover there are to be negotiations on improving the background for WTO disciplines on fisheries subsidies so that their environmental effects are better taken into account.

In addition, agreement was reached in Doha to prepare for the next WTO Conference of Ministers in 2003 to decide on whether to enter into substantive negotiations; on the effects of environmental provisions on developing countries' access to markets in industrialised countries; on liberalisation of trade for simultaneous benefit to trade, environment and development; on environmental provisions in the WTO Agreement on TradeRelated Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights; and on eco-labelling provisions.

In all the above environmental areas, ministers decided that particular consideration should be given to the needs of developing countries. Similarly, ministers committed themselves to aiming at granting the least developed countries duty and quota free access to markets.The EU decision from February 2001 on granting duty and quota free access to EU markets for all products, with the exception of weapons and ammunition, from the least developed countries represents a significant step in this direction.

In the ongoing WTO negotiations we should make sure that trade plays a full and efficient role in fostering sustainable development.The negotiations should ensure 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 are mutually supportive.

During the round of negotiations due to end in early 2005, Denmark will work for effective global efforts to promote sustainable development for the benefit of all parties, not least developing countries.

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

The World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa in 2002 offers another opportunity for placing sustainable development high on the international political agenda. Denmark will play a central role and hold a major responsibility at the World Summit which is to be held in August September 2002 during the Danish EU Presidency.

Denmark will work actively to involve business and the civil society in the preparations for the World Summit through close cooperation with NGOs and trade and industry in Denmark, and by supporting involvement of NGOs from developing countries. It is also hoped that the Summit will bring about the launch of initiatives to strengthen public access to environmental information and participation in accordance with Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration from 1992.

The Government is striving, in accordance with the resolution of the Folketing (Danish Parliament), to ensure that the World Summit results in a global deal on sustainable development and a global partnership.The agreement should be based on common, but differentiated responsibilities and must:

	contain specific concessions by the rich part of the world in the form of decoupling economic growth from environmental impact and increased resource consumption - not least in the areas of energy, waste, use of chemicals, and biodiversity;
	accommodate the need of developing countries for growth and poverty reduction, maintain objectives on development assistance, increase market access for the products of the poorest countries in particular, include debt relief, and lead to increased investments in and the transfer of sustainable technology,
	lead to a strengthening of the global organisation of sustainable development and of public access to information and participation in environmental matters
	involve implementation by all countries of multilateral environmental agreements; and
	ensure that trade policy as a result of the WTO's ongoing round of negotiations to a higher extent involves and respects considerations concerning the environment and sustainable development.

These objectives will also be incorporated in preparations for the next meeting of the "Environment for Europe process" in Kiev in 2003, and in this connection, in efforts to achieve a "Regional Deal".The Government places priority on the agreement ensuring that poor countries are assisted in their endeavours to embark on sustainable development, and that they are committed to introducing society models built on freedom, democracy, and respect for human rights.

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