Cooperation on special environmental assistance aims to further sustainable development and to prevent and mitigate environmental pollution as well as to deplete natural resources. Key areas for cooperation are:
Programmes within the special environmental assistance focus on the development of administrative and organisational capacity of authorities on local, national and regional levels, civil society and NGOs and on the practical demonstration of methods for preventing and controlling pollution.
Examples of recent programmes under the special environmental assistance include: i) capacity building in the energy sector in Malaysia on the use of renewable energy, ii) community based management of forest resources in Tanzania, iii) integrated water resource management in South Africa andiv) NGO/CBO-based mitigation of urban environmental pollution in low-income areas in major cities in Thailand.
The special environmental assistance presently (April 2004) includes cooperation with Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia in the Southern Africa region and with Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam in the South East Asia region. Regional programmes, involving two or more of the countries in a region, can be included.
Furthermore, in Malaysia, South Africa and Thailand activities are included which support the development and implementation of the Clean Development mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol.
The special environmental assistance will be implemented in accordance with the “Strategy for Danish environmental assistance in developing countries 2004-2008”, which was effectuated in May 2004.
