Denmark Environment Minister sets up first biodiversity council to help nature initiatives

The Ministry of Environment announced on October 1 that Denmark's first Biodiversity Council has been established to advise the government and parliament (Folketing) on nature initiatives. The Danish Minister for Environment, Lea Wermelin, has selected the chairman and eight other members of the Council.

"In the future years, the Biodiversity Council will play an essential part in the work of increasing Danish biodiversity and nature, and we will have an experienced woman at the helm in Signe Normand, who can offer a lot of experience and expertise to the work," Wermelin said, Xinhua reported. 

Signe Normand is a professor of ecoinformatics and biodiversity at Aarhus University's Department of Biology, as well as the centre's manager.

Biodiversity Council aspires to offer knowledge in sectors relevant to biodiversity

The establishment of a Biodiversity Council is part of an environment and biodiversity package aimed at giving Danish nature a 'historic boost.'

In December 2020, the administration and supporting parties reached an agreement on the package. The Biodiversity Council also aspires to 'offer knowledge in a wide range of sectors relevant to biodiversity,' such as land and freshwater, inland waters and the high seas, as well as legal, socio-environmental, and behavioural elements of biodiversity, such as outdoor life.

The UN Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) will be held in two parts in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province in southwest China, while the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) will be held later this year in Glasgow, Scotland.

Image: Leawermelin@Twitter/Unsplash