|
Denmark's Third National Communication on Climate Change 7 Financial resources and transfer of technology7.1 Danish development policyDenmark's vision for regional and global sustainable development is a world with economic development, social welfare, and greater protection of the environment. It includes a world market with free trade based on high environmental and social standards, and it includes respect for human rights, democratisation, transparency, and responsibility in administrations. Through both foreign policy and environment policy, Denmark will work actively to promote international action. Danish international assistance is still well above the UN objective of 0.7 per cent of GNI. Denmark attaches importance to ensuring coherence between development, environment, and trade policy. Denmark wants a strong global structure to promote all elements of global sustainable development, including a stronger structure for promotion of international environmental cooperation and environmental regulation. The effort to promote national sustainable development is 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 ever more dependent on the outside world. Denmark therefore has a great interest in contributing to sustainable development through national efforts and through the EU, the UN, the WTO, the OECD, and the international financial institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The world is facing many regional and global challenges. Of the world's approximately 6 billion people, 2.8 billion live on less than 2 dollars a day and 1.2 billion live on less than 1 dollar a day. The challenge therefore consists primarily in eradicating poverty and creating better conditions of life for the poor people of the world. For example, one fifth of the world's people do not have access to clean water and sanitation, and this particularly affects women, children, indigenous peoples, and other particularly exposed population groups. The battle for scarce natural resources is in some cases the cause of violent conflicts, creating immense refugee problems, particularly in the developing countries. Analyses from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) show that climate change is very probably already a reality, and it is in the developing countries that the greatest adverse effects of climate changes are expected. Biodiversity is under increasing pressure, and nature's resources are often used on an unsustainable basis. The use of dangerous chemicals is a growing problem, both for human health and for fauna and flora. There is often a close correlation between poverty and environmental problems. It is often the poorest people that are worst affected by the deterioration of the environment. At the same time, poverty limits the possibilities for sustainable utilisation of natural resources because limited resources are available for investment in protection of the environment. For example, poverty is contributing to soil exhaustion and desertification in Africa. Conversely, uncontrolled economic growth in developing countries and the slightly more developed countries in the East and South often leads to increased use of natural resources and burdens the environment. In its entire international work for global sustainable development, Denmark attaches importance to the need to integrate and balance the economic dimension (povertyoriented growth), the social dimension (promotion of such social sectors as education and health) and the environmental dimension (protection of the environment). Denmark will continue working for global sustainable development by
7.1.1 Development cooperationSince the change of government in Denmark in November 2001, the government has reviewed Denmark's development assistance and environmental assistance to developing countries with the objective of prioritising it, focusing it, and making it more effective. The agreed changes to the assistance on this basis mean, among other things, that more is required of the governments in the cooperation countries with regard to respect for human rights and democracy. Systematic and lasting violations of human rights and democratic rules of play will no longer be accepted. This has led to Denmark ending its assistance cooperation with Eritrea, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. This leaves Denmark with 15 programme cooperation countries - Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua,Tanzania, Uganda,Vietnam, and Zambia. The Danish development cooperation is financed mainly by the facility for assistance to developing countries (DKK 10.5 billion in 2002), the main purpose of which is to promote sustainable development through poverty-oriented growth. Equal participation by women and men in the development process, consideration for the environment and democratisation are of vital importance to combating poverty and are therefore integrated in all aspects of Denmark's assistance. In 1999 Denmark was awarded top marks in OECD's regular reviews of assistance to developing countries. The latest OECD review of Danish assistance took place in the spring of 2003, and the result of the review is pending. Thorough environmental analyses will play an essential role in the coming years' revision of the country strategies for Denmark's programme cooperation countries. Another important task will be to seek better integration of the objectives of international environmental agreements in the bilateral assistance cooperation. In the Appropriations Act for 2003 the government has chosen to prioritise a number of areas and to earmark further resources for them. The areas include good governance, assistance to refugees in local areas, environment, industrial development, women, and trade and development. Denmark seeks actively to get the many countries - including the EU countries - whose development assistance is below the UN objective of 0.7% of GNI to increase their assistance. Denmark will continue in the absolute lead in development assistance, with Denmark's assistance expected to be around 0.9% of GNI at factor cost in 2003. 7.1.2 New and additional assistance fundsBilateral action Denmark is at the leading edge with respect to making funds available for environmental action in the developing countries and in Central and Eastern Europe. It makes funds available partly through assistance under the facility for assistance to developing countries, which, as mentioned in the foregoing, has combating poverty in the developing countries as its main objective, and partly through the establishment of the Environment, Peace and Stability Facility (MIFRESTA) as an element of the follow-up on the Rio Conference in 1992. Through the latter, considerable funds have been spent on environmental action in developing countries, Central and European countries and the Arctic since 1993. Under MIFRESTA, Denmark is also engaged in the refugee area and prevention of conflict. In the poorest of the developing countries, assistance is aimed particularly at relieving povertyrelated pressure on the environment and nature, and in close cooperation with the recipient countries, Denmark provides considerable assistance to areas of relevance to sustainable development. This applies, for example, to the drinking-water area, where the action is helping to ensure millions of poor people access to water and to protect sources of water - e.g. by tree planning and by building up capacity for sustainable management. In the energy area Denmark provides support for sustainable energy supply - e.g. supporting poor women in planting trees for fuel, which provides the women with an income and at the same time, protects the environment. Within nature resources, Denmark is working to strengthen sustainable management and production with a view to preventing soil exhaustion and desertification. In the richer developing countries with growing economic activity, the assistance is aimed at helping the countries with environment and nature protection, primarily by strengthening their own capacity to solve the problems and by increasing environmental awareness. Table 7.1
Denmark's special environmental assistance under the MIFRESTA Facility increased up to 2002. Since then, however, this assistance has been considerably reduced because of increased requirements to the recipient countries to take more responsibility for the action, and the number of countries that can receive this assistance has been cut. The MIFRESTA countries are now Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique,Tanzania,Vietnam, Cambodia,Thailand, and Malaysia, while assistance to Swaziland, Lesotho, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Laos has been cut altogether. Overall, Denmark will continue to provide extensive assistance for the benefit of the environment in the developing countries, since it is estimated that more than 15% of the facility for assistance to developing countries is spent on environmental assistance. Table 7.2
Multilateral action Denmark has worked - mainly through the EU - for binding and effective regulation of international environmental problems through the regional and global environment conventions. This applies, for example, to the conventions on biodiversity, climate change, combating desertification, the Basel Convention on cross-border transportation of hazardous waste and the conventions regulating chemicals, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the IMO Convention on toxic primers. Denmark has worked to get the conventions coordinated and enforced effectively and for the precautionary principle to have a central role in the rules. Denmark is a considerable contributor to the Montreal Protocol's fund for financing the phasing-out of ozonedepleting substances in developing countries. In addition, Denmark supports sustainable energy through socalled 'trust fund contributions' to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Denmark's contribution to sustainable development includes considerable support for international organisations, particularly the UN system, in which all countries in the world participate on an equal footing. Here, Denmark is working to strengthen the Commission for Sustainable Development, CSD. Denmark is also working to make the UN more efficient so that the division of work between the organisations becomes better and overlapping is avoided. In the environment area, Denmark is working to strengthen the Global Environment Facility (GEF) financially and organisationally. The Danish contribution to GEF's replenishment for the years 2002-2005, the largest to date, is about 50% larger than in the previous replenishment. Denmark, together with other EU Member States, has made an extra, voluntary contribution to the third replenishment. Table 7.7
Table 7.8
The least developed countries are among the countries that are most vulnerable to climate change. Denmark therefore attaches particular importance to helping these countries adapt to climate change. For this reason, in 2002 Denmark made its first contribution of DKK 11.4 mill. to the fund for the least developed countries (the LDC Fund) under the Climate Convention. The contribution is intended to finance the least developed countries' work with National Adaptation Plans of Action (NAPAs). 7.1.3 Assistance through the private sectorDenmark has the following assistance instruments and measures for assistance to developing countries through the private sector: Mixed credits Mixed credits can be provided in connection with projects within both the public and the private sector. Restricted mixed credits are interestfree loans for development projects in credit-worthy developing countries with per capita GNP of not more than USD 2,380 (2002/2003) and are thus not reserved for programme cooperation countries. The loans are made from a Danish bank to a credit-worthy borrower in the recipient country. The interest expense, export credit premium, etc. are paid via the assistance funds. The project's assistance relevance is evaluated on the basis of Danida's ordinary rules for project evaluation. In the period 1997-2001 assistance was granted with mixed credits for 75 projects with a total contract sum of DKK 3.6 bill. and a grant for interest payments, export credit premium, premium etc., totalling DKK 1.4 bill. (see table 7.9). Approximately one fifth of these projects concern renewable energy - particularly wind turbines. In addition to the existing restricted mixed credit scheme, a new scheme - for unrestricted mixed credits - was introduced in 2002. The unrestricted scheme largely corresponds to the existing restricted scheme. The main difference between the two is that the support possibilities in the unrestricted scheme are not limited to Danish suppliers and that there is no requirement concerning the origin of the supplies. Besides this, the unrestricted scheme can only be used in Denmark's programme cooperation countries and in South Africa. Table 7.9
Denmark supports cooperation between the private sector in the recipient countries and in Denmark, including - particularly - cooperation projects between companies. Some of the projects are environmentrelated, e.g. projects relating to renewable energy and energy saving through transfer of cleaner technologies. Table 7.10 shows the support provided for these projects. Table 7.10
7.1.4 Assistance to developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate changesSmall Island Development States (SIDS) are particularly vulnerable to global environmental impacts, including climate change, and Denmark attaches great importance to supporting SIDS in accordance with Agenda 21 and the Barbados Action Plan. At the UN's special general assembly in September 1999 on these countries Denmark emphasised the prioritisation of the poorest developing countries among SIDS and weighting action in favour of women and the poorest target groups. In 1999 Denmark held a large NGO conference on renewable energy and small island states. In addition, Denmark provides support for SIDS through multilateral assistance to regional projects in the climate and energy areas and to projects on the Maldives, partly through the regional organisation "South Pacific Regional Environment Programme" (SPREP) and partly through UNEP. From 1998 to 2002 Danida supported a SPREP project on knowledge and capacity building in the climate area for governments, NGOs, and regional organisations on the Pacific islands. In addition, Danida is financing a supplementary capacity building project that UNEP is implementing on wind and other renewable energy technology in the electricity systems on the Pacific islands. In 2003 a new project on sustainable energy is being planned for the benefit of SIDS. 7.1.5 Activities in connection with technology transfer Examples of Danish-supported activities leading to transfer of technology include the energy sector in Malaysia and the establishment of a large wind farm in Egypt. The main purpose of the Danish support for the energy sector in Malaysia is to help the country develop a strategy for sustainable energy and identify ways of increasing energy efficiency. The project in Egypt has included support for the establishment of a wind farm in the Red Sea area with a capacity of 60 MW. This is one of the largest plants of its kind in the developing countries. More information on these projects is given in Appendix C. Table 7.12
7.2 Cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe7.2.1 MIFRESTA FacilitySince 1989 Denmark has been supporting the Central and East European countries' efforts to build up well-functioning democracies, which are now, after a number of turbulent years, characterised by economic growth and ever-stronger democratic institutions. The Danish assistance programme for Central and Eastern Europe has played an essential role in this process. Environmental activities have long constituted by far the largest part of all Danish assistance to Central and Eastern Europe. DANCEE has made grants for a number of projects aimed at reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The total reduction of CO2 emissions through already completed and ongoing projects is now estimated to be about 0.75 million tonnes per year. Table 7.12 shows the main action areas. Table 7.13
The Danish Environmental Investment Facility for Central and Eastern Europe is contributing to a number of environmental projects in Central and Eastern Europe. The contributions, which are shown in table 7.14, are made as share capital or project loans and can thus not be regarded as real development assistance. 7.2.2 Strategy for Danish assistance to Central and Eastern Europe 2002-2003In April 2002 the government presented its strategy for Danish assistance to Central and Eastern Europe in the years 2002-2003. DKK 700 mill. has been earmarked for environmental projects in the years in question, including DKK 130 mill. for Joint Implementation. Under the previous environmental support programme for Central and Eastern Europe, projects were implemented that have in all resulted in CO2 reductions of about 0.75 million tonnes per year. Cooperation agreements have been entered into with Slovakia and Rumania on cooperation with a view to Joint Implementation projects and negotiations on cooperation agreements have also been held with Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and the Czech Republic. The planned action in 2002-2003 includes projects that will result in a considerable reduction in CO2 emissions, and Denmark will seek to credit this to the Danish climate account. Further agreements are expected to be entered into in 2003 with, among other countries, Rumania, Slovakia and Poland. In addition, the countries will be provided with technical assistance in building up the capacity that will be needed to enter into Joint Implementation projects.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
