Denmark

% of land, % of marine waters are covered by protected areas.
species and habitats are protected under EU law

Denmark is a low-lying country, the highest point is Møllehøj at 171m, consisting of the Jutland peninsula and over 400 islands. It has a terrestrial area of over to 43 000 km² and a marine areas of over 120 000 km². It is bordered by 1 other countries. Denmark has a population of 5.8 million people and a population density of 138 people per km².

Protected areas

% of land

% of marine waters

There are a total of protected areas in Denmark, Natura 2000 sites - Special Protection Areas (Birds Directive) and Sites of Community Importance (Habitat Directive) - as well as sites designated under national laws.

% of the network is protected only through national laws

% of the network consists solely of Natura 2000 sites

% consist of and overlap between the two.

The average size of protected areas in Europe is lower compared to other regions of the world. This largely reflects the high degree of fragmentation of the land in Europe due to urbanisation, infrastructure and general intensification of land use. At a EU level 50% of protected areas have an area of less than 1 km². The 10 largest marine sites account for 68% of the marine area, while the 10 largest land sites account for 41% of the land area covered by protected areas

Size distribution of Denmark's land protected areas network

Natura 2000 sites in Denmark cover species and habitats from the nature directives. The number of species and habitats protected in each site varies depending on the location of the site, the biodiversity in the region, the designation being used, and the features the site is being created to protect. For sites there is only 1 feature being protected with sites having more than 20 features.

Protected species

Species protected in Denmark under EU law are protected under the Habitats Directive and under the Birds Directive. The Habitats Directive has a total of 2 500 species on its list, the Birds Directive has a total of 500 species of wild birds protected.

species protected under EU law in Denmark

species are unique to Denmark

species under the Habitats Directive

species under the Birds Directive

Conservation status: Habitats Directive

% of species are considered to be Good

% of species are considered to be Poor

% of species are considered to be Bad

% of species are considered to be Unknown

Conservation Status by Taxa

Protected species composition by Taxa

Protected habitats

Habitats protected in Denmark under EU law are protected under the Habitats Directive. The Habitats Directive has a total of 233 habitats on its list.

habitats protected under EU law in Denmark.

Conservation status: Habitats Directive

% of habitats are considered to be Good

% of habitats are considered to be Poor

% of habitats are considered to be Bad

Conservation Status by Group

Habitat composition by Group

Ecosystems

Policy

MAES in Denmark:

A Danish MAES project has been set up by the Nature Agency in cooperation with scientific expertise at Danish Universities and finalized in 2014. The MAES project gives a status of mapping ecosystems, ecosystem services and their values in Denmark. It delivers a mapping of ecosystems in Denmark quantitatively and at digital maps in accordance with the EU MAES Technical report 20123 067. Furthermore it will give a status of the on-going mapping of 16 ecosystem services and biodiversity in accordance with EU MAES technical report 2014 080.Thus an overview of existing data sources and methods used are synthesised in tables where the information regarding data, models and challenges are shown in 4 status categories (smileys). The report shows that there is a large unexploited potential for combining modelling and mapping of ecosystems services and economic valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services in Denmark. Although existing databases and model frameworks have been developed in other contexts than the MAES, they can be modified for use in MAES related analyses. Mapping of the distribution of species shows a clear correlation between land use categories and biodiversity. In cooperation with Danish Universities a follow up MAES project started 2015 and a report has been published in 2017 download

Green infrastructure in Denmark:

Being a densely populated country, most of the area of Denmark is strategically planned and managed in one way or another. The Government agreed on a Nature Package (Naturpakken) in May 2016 and a package regarding Food and Agriculture (Fødevare og landbrugspakken) in December 2016 which will be the frameworks for furthering activities on GI.

National Biodiversity strategy for Denmark:

To report on progress to the EU 2020 biodiversity strategy, the European Commission extracted relevant information from the EU Member States’ 5^th national reports to the CBD. Of the 5 countries which had not finalized their national reports at the time of the synthesis (26^th of August 2015), Greece, Malta, Portugal and Lithuania provided information to be included in the synthesis.