Sustainability: Towards a national strategy for sustainable development

The Danish Government has decided to draw up a national strategy for sustainable development that will present Danish visions and goals for the area. The Government expects to publish a draft of the strategy in March for use as a discussion paper for public debate in March and April. The final strategy is expected to be finalized in June.

An NGO dialogue meeting has been held on the strategy and a debate forum has been established on the Danish EPA’s Internet homepage. In addition, Minister for Environment and Energy Svend Auken has received suggestions for the national strategy from a number of green organizations.
The strategy will be founded on the principles expounded in the Rio Declaration on environment and development and will also attach importance to:

• breaking with the present correlation between economic growth and growth in resource consumption and environmental pressure,


• finding out how consideration for the environment can be integrated in all sectors and all policy areas through cooperation between all actors,


• establishing a set of specific indicators that provide a picture of the sustainability of current development, and


• ensuring coordination between Danish and international initiatives aimed at promoting sustainable development.