The Danish-Greenlandic Environmental Cooperation
The protection of nature and the environment in Greenland
Through the Dancea assistance program, the Ministry of Environment and Energy supports a number of concrete projects working with nature and the environment in Greenland. These projects and their Greenlandic context are described in this book.
The Dancea projects are a substantial and practically oriented element of the Danish Greenlandic cooperation on the protection of the environment and nature. The Dancea schemes are based on shared responsibility within the Realm for protection of the environment and nature, as well as respect for the autonomy of Home Rule, and the particular Arctic conditions in Greenland. The environmental assistance program, Dancea, is part of the Danish follow-up on the UN goal of sustainable development - including the Arctic part of the Realm.
The Home Rule Government of Greenland assumed responsibility for the protection of nature in Greenland in connection with the establishment of Home Rule in 1979. In 1989, responsibility for environmental protection was turned over to the Home Rule Government, and in 1992, jurisdiction over the marine environment around Greenland within the three-mile inshore limit was given to the Home Rule Government.
Since then, the Greenlandic Home Rule Government has made a big effort to increase expertise in the environment and nature protection field. In connection with taking over protection of the environment and nature, Home Rule has established offices for both environmental protection and the protection of nature, as well as passing a number of laws, executive orders and so on in the field of nature and environmental protection.
After the handover to Home Rule, Greenland and Denmark have put both formal and informal contacts and networks in the area of nature and environmental protection into effect.
On the formal level, the Danish Minister for Environment and Energy and the Greenlandic Home Rule Minister responsible for environment have signed joint declarations on cooperation and the launching of a number of initiatives for the benefit of nature and environmental protection in Greenland.
Besides this, a contact group has been appointed, consisting of the directors of the Ministry of Environment and Nature in Greenland, as well as, in Denmark, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Danish Forest and Nature Agency, which meets once a year to discuss common problems, share experiences, and so on. The contact group and the yearly meetings have contributed to creating a number of informal but valuable contacts between Danish and Greenlandic government officials.
Polar bears are frequently killed in all parts of the hunting areas.
In connection with the Ministry of Environment and Energy's administration of assistance funding, the Minister for Environment and Energy, Svend Auken appointed the Advisory Committee for the Arctic in 1994, which advises the Department of the Environment on the administration of the assistance scheme, now known as Dancea.
Arctic environmental cooperation - AEPS, 1991
Environmental cooperation in the Arctic between the eight Arctic countries (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the USA) was formalized in 1991 with the passing of the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS). The background for it was a growing concern for the Arctic environment, and the suspicion that winds and ocean currents carried dangerous substances from the industrialized countries to the Arctic. Since it was feared that these substances would accumulate in the Arctic population through the food chain, because of their traditional diet, Denmark and Greenland have participated actively in this cooperation since 1991.
Since then, Arctic environmental cooperation has expanded and become more concrete at the meetings of the ministers of environment in Greenland in 1993, in Canada in 1996, and in Norway in 1997. June 2001 marked ten years since the Arctic environmental strategy was passed, and Finland celebrated this occasion by holding a special anniversary meeting in Rovaniemi, the very city where the strategy was signed in 1991. Ministers and highly placed government officials from the Arctic countries participated. Besides this, the EU, the UNEP and observer countries also participated in the jubilee event.
In 1996, the Arctic Council was established. It was partly due to a wish from Denmark and Greenland that Arctic cooperation would, beyond environmental cooperation, include areas like economic growth, trade, hunting, education, transport and so on. The Arctic environmental cooperation and the Arctic environmental working groups continue as before, but now they are under the framework of the Arctic Council.
Hunting is one of the most flexible occupations in the world.
The Rio Conference in 1992The year after the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS) was passed, in 1992, the UN Conference on Environment and Development was held in Rio de Janeiro.
After the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the Danish Parliament decided in 1993 to follow up on the UN's goal by setting up the economic framework for Danish environmental assistance; known today as the Environment, Peace and Stability Facility. Since 1993, Denmark has increased its environmental assistance, and has decided to gradually expand the total economic framework to 0.5% of the Danish GNP by the year 2005.
Part of the assistance resulted in three programs under the Environmental Protection Agency: The Danish Cooperation for Environment in the Arctic - Dancea, the Danish Cooperation for Environment and Development - Danced, and the Danish Cooperation for Environment in Eastern Europe - Dancee.
The Danish cooperation for environment in the Arctic - Dancea
In February 1994, the Government passed a "Sub-strategy concerning Arctic environmental protection schemes". The substrategy was based on the international Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS), which was adopted by Denmark and the other Arctic countries in Rovaniemi, Finland in 1991. The main elements of this strategy include protection of the people of the Arctic, and an acceptance of a sustainable use of natural resources that meets cultural requirements as much as possible. The goal of the strategy is also to protect, reestablish and monitor the Arctic environment, with the aim of eliminating the pollution of the Arctic.
Since 1994, the concrete budgetary framework for Dancea activities has been continuously adjusted to the knowledge and tasks that are uncovered, partly by previous years' Dancea projects.
Dancea's overall purpose is still in keeping with the international Arctic environmental strategy, and aims, among other things, at the sustainable development of especially the Danish parts of the Arctic, with special emphasis on the sustainable use of Arctic natural resources, on conservation, and on the prevention and reduction of the pollution of the Arctic environment.
In connection with the parliamentary inquiry in May 1999, the parliament voted to redouble work in the Arctic, with a special focus on Greenland.
There are three focus areas. First, projects that build up and strengthen expertise in Greenland in the nature and environmental protection field, and in this way lay the foundation for the management of the environmental and nature, and a basis for implementation of a series of international agreements. Second, concrete schemes in Greenland, like the introduction of environmentally acceptable waste management and disposal. Third, but not least, support for information and teaching materials about nature and the environment.
Many of the projects chosen in this book deal with living nature and its utilization, but this only shows that Dancea has, over the years, supported a long series of projects in this area. The DanishGreenlandic environmental cooperation goes far beyond this and even covers important areas within the housing, energy and health sectors, as well as information and debatecreating activities. The stories chosen do not reflect the breadth of the whole enterprise.
In many parts of Greenland, fishery is still developing.