BALTIC SEAENVIRONMENT PROCEEDINGS No. 59 - Helcom

egistered. The result of the registration lead to a rise in the public concern and
a demand for further action.
The Action Plan for the Aquatic Environment.
So in 1987 an Action Plan for the Aquatic Environment was introduced and
agreed upon after long and hard discussions in the Danish Parliament.
In the Action plan for the Aquatic Environment there was a demand for fbrther
regulation concerning:
Storage capacity for farm yard manure (now 9 month capacity was
required).
_ Fertilization plans (now every farmer had to make a plan for his crops
and the amount of fertilizer he would apply)
Green fields (65% of the agricultural area had to be covered by a catch
crop during autumn and winter).
There was also a demand for reducing discharges from municipal and industrial
treatment plants. The overall goal of the plan was a 50% reduction in nitrogen
discharges, and 80% reductions in phosphorus discharges.
These new rules from the Action Plan for the Aquatic Environment were
implemented in statutory orders by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry
of the Environment in 1987.
In 1989 and 1990 it was obvious that the two Action Plans never would fulfil the
above mentioned goals of a 50% reductions in nitrogen discharges.
So in 1990 a majority in Parliament decided that the Minister of Agriculture
should come up with an Action Plan for Sustainable Agriculture before April
1991.
Just before this new plan was presented the Danish Environmental Protection
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