Danish ecology policy granted the United Nations Future Policy Award
Denmark took second place at the UN's Future Policy Award 2018 for policies that promote sustainable food production and consumption. A total of 51 policies from 25 countries were submitted to the competition.
It was 'Økologiplan Danmark 2011-2020 – sammen om mere økologi’ (Ecology Plan Denmark 2011-2020 - Together for More Ecology) that was honored with the award. The plan was created by the previous Minister for Food, Mette Gjerskov, in 2011 and developed in 2015 by Dan Jørgensen.
The reasoning behind awarding Denmark's action plan was its holistic strategy to both increase the overall demand for organic produce and also stimulating the research and product innovation. The organic action plan has resulted in an impressive outcome:
"Today Denmark has the highest market share of organic products in the world, with almost 80 percent of Danes purchasing organic food. Also thanks to high demand, the Plan has amply met its original target of doubling organic farm land compared to a 2007 baseline. Furthermore, the Plan motivated municipalities through a national goal to achieve 60 per cent organic in all public kitchens; thereby, for instance, the city of Copenhagen met the goal of 90 per cent organic food in 2015, without an increase in meal prices."
Source: World Future Council
The winner of UN's Future Policy Award was Sikkim in India, which is the first 100% organic state in the world with all of its farmland certified organic.