Nature as the dynamo for development at local level – Every 5th Danish mayor has now signed Countdown 2010 Declaration
30 September 2008, Vejle (Denmark). More than 200 participants joined forces for increased 2010 action in Denmark. Leading local politicians and mayors representing a large share of the Danish municipalities attended a conference organized by the Ministry of the Environment, the Danish Society for Nature Conservation and Local Government Denmark (LGDK) on strengthening of ecological networks in Denmark. Five more municipalities decided to join this fast-growing network of partners committed to save biodiversity by 2010. This is in addition to the 16 Mayors which have already joined Countdown 2010 last January. This clearly shows that Danish local governments are putting more and more energy towards the protection of their surroundings.
“Fragmentation is one of the most important problems to solve in relation to the loss of biodiversity at international, national and local level” stated the Minister of the Environment, Troels Lund Poulsen. The Danish government became partner of Countdown 2010 in February last year and allocated an additional 558 m DKK through 2007- 2009 for nature restoration projects. It is also contributing to the 2010 goal by establishing five National Parks. The first was inaugurated on 22 August 2008. Last week the Danish government announced a new ambitious initiative “Green growth. The aim is to make a plan for the environment and nature by ensuring biodiversity and climate adaptation measures while keeping a competitive agricultural production. The initiative will be presented in the beginning of 2009.
The Minister added that: “20% of all municipalities in Denmark have now signed the Countdown 2010 Declaration and I warmly welcome all local authorities to commit themselves to this international target. What I find particularly encouraging is that Countdown 2010 acts through concrete projects contributing to stop the loss of biodiversity.”
“Impressively, the Countdown 2010 seed planted by the first 16 municipalities of South Denmark just less than a year ago is now starting to spread at a fast pace throughout the country. We hope to welcome many more partners from Denmark before the end of 2010” said Sebastian Winkler, Head of Countdown 2010. Commenting the event he noted that “this is another step closer to the Global Partnership for Cities and Biodiversity to be launched at IUCN World Conservation Congress next week. This network will hopefully have the same impact as the “Cities for climate Protection Campaign” had on climate change policies.”
Another aspect highlighted during the conference was that integrating nature into other sector, such as health, tourism and the economy, is indeed beneficial to both the local municipality and the plants and animal species in the region.
