Outdoor Life for Everybody!

The basic principles for work of The Outdoor Council

Outdoor life is for everyone to enjoy.

The Danish Outdoor Council exists to promote the joys of outdoor life and all the wonderful experiences it has to offer. But a varied natural habitat and an uncontaminated environment are preconditions for enjoying the great outdoors. We need the little green spot in the city where we can stop and linger for a moment, the open countryside with its forests, fields and lakes and the choppy sea with its long coastline and natural splendour... For centuries, almost the whole of the Danish cultural landscape has been cultivated and moulded by human hand. That makes it very important to promote understanding of the interrelationship between how we use nature and how we protect it. Just as the urban population has to understand and respect the conditions faced by forestry and agriculture, forestry and agriculture also have to understand and respect the growing demand for diversified use of the land. The vast majorities of Danes now live in conurbation and fewer and fewer work in forestry and agriculture, so their view of nature and their craving for outdoor activity has changed. There is a widespread interest in nature protection and a growing ecological awareness has taken hold of a still larger section of the population.

Prioritising
The Danish Outdoor Council bases its work on the general social trend towards an environmentally defensible and sustainable future, towards a society in which outdoor pursuits thrive, but due attention is paid to nature, the environment and the consumption of natural resources.

It is a basic premise for The Danish Outdoor Council that sustainability is being practised in words as well as deeds. When it comes to priorities, the Council usually accords equal importance to human activity, nature and the environment. However, if it comes to a definitive choice, nature and the environment always come first.

Ad hoc use of nature is prioritised just as highly as organised group or individual activities. This means that no single outdoor activity or special group is given higher priority than others due to age, social standing, etc. All outdoor activities are interrelated and practised at all levels of society.

History
Since its foundation, one of the primary objectives of the Danish Outdoor Council has been to promote popular interest in outdoor activity because it improves the quality of life for the individual and strengthens our collective sense of solidarity.

Th. Stauning (Prime minister 1929-42) was aware of this in 1941 when he mooted his proposal to set up the Danish Outdoor Council, an idea which came to fruition when a group of organisations officially formed the Council was on November 27, 1942.

The breadth of its membership and the support it enjoys from large sections of Danish society put the Outdoor Council in a position to strengthen the general public's influence on questions concerning outdoor life as well as its opportunities to exert that influence.

The quality of life
On the threshold of the year 2000, social trends are gravitating towards personal responsibility, caring for and showing consideration for others and working together to create a better future. In that respect, outdoor life is a goal in itself, but it is also a means with which to improve the quality of life, alone or through social intercourse.

Outdoor life promotes both physical and mental well being

The Danish Outdoor Council stresses the close relationship between outdoors activity and daily life. Outdoor life is not just a weekend or holiday luxury, it also consists of day-to-day experiences on the way to and from school and work or while walking the dog in the evening. In short, it is not just a matter of the great outdoors

It is also a matter of integrating minor outdoor activities into our daily routines and improving the quality of life for all.

Agriculture and nature
A few generations ago, Denmark was a predominantly agricultural country. Today, there is only some 70,000 farmers left and only half of them work the land full-time.

Agricultural land still covers 2/3 of the total area of the country, while 85 percent of the Danish population now live in towns which cover a mere 5 percent of the country. As a result of this demographic development, the urban population has started to exhibit a growing desire to indulge in outdoor activities in the open countryside and to exert influence on how this part of the country is managed.

This leads to clashes of interest, but the general population's active participation in outdoor activities also helps to break down barriers and the lack of understanding between people who live off forestry and off the land and those who use nature for recreational purposes.

The cultural environment
At the same time as we pay heed to the general desire to enjoy outdoor pursuits, we must not neglect environmental protection (fighting pollution), animal and Programmet protection and the third dimension: the cultural environment.

The cultural environment reflects the interaction between people and nature. For that reason, the Danish Outdoor Council promotes the drafting of regional and national frameworks for diversified use of the land, wetlands and coastal areas.

Other factors
Nature is under severe pressure from a number of factors: the use of chemical pesticides, non-indigenous materials, increasing pollution of the air and of ground water, the increase in vehicular traffic and the incursion into the countryside of the infrastructure such as motorways, electricity pylons, etc.

All these factors constitute a threat to nature and the environment and can have more or less directly negative consequences on outdoor activity in the future.

For the same reasons, they will also be important elements in the continued development and outlook of the Danish Outdoor Council's action programmes.

Access
Nature is the basis for outdoor life. Nature and our cultural heritage belong to all of us. General use of the countryside for outdoor pursuits ought, therefore, to be free of charge.

In other words: No entrance fees to Mother Nature!

We also need to ensure that access to nature and the production landscape continue to improve and become both practical and acceptable to all the interested parties.

Perspective
The Danish Outdoor Council derives its strength from the very fact that its perspectives are broader than the special interests of its individual member organisations. For example, a special characteristic of the Council's campaigns is that they are often run jointly by a number of member organisations and one or more external partners.

The target group may be a single age group, the ordinary user of the countryside or a particular user organisation.

Influence
The Danish Outdoor Council believes that the general public ought to be involved in decision-making processes at local, regional and national level.

The Council seeks and enjoys influence in both the drafting of legislation and in an advisory capacity. It is represented on a number of committees and commissions and, for example, on the regional Green Council (an advisory committee to the County Council, one in each county) and Forest Users Council both of which the Danish Outdoor Council has welcomed.

The Danish Outdoor Council would welcome an increase in the number of this type of advisory councils and groups in other contexts.

When the Council enters into the democratic decision-making processes and takes a position on an issue, it does so on the basis of the broad range of outdoor activities, regardless of whether they are organised or ad hoc.

Outdoor areas
The main tasks faced by the Danish Outdoor Council include contributing to:

• the preservation and maintenance of existing outdoor activity areas
• the establishment of new areas devoted to outdoor activity and
• diversified use - this means that areas dedicated to other purposes can also be used for outdoor activities. Part of this process involves promoting quality in the design of new areas.

Legislation
Unlike Norway, for example, Denmark does not have an Outdoor Act on the statute book. In the 1940's, one was about to be introduced, but the proposal was dropped for a variety of reasons. Policy objectives for outdoor life are built into other legislation instead.

The Danish Outdoor Council is not in favour of a single all-embracing Outdoor Act. It prefers that policy objectives and regulations for outdoor life remain embodied in general legislation:

For example, the Forestry Act covers both production-oriented and recreational objectives. The Agriculture Act currently confines itself to production issues, and its scope ought to be expanded in a similar fashion to include objectives such as diversified use, nature conservation and outdoor life.

Society has to insist that primary producers cultivate the land in an environmentally friendly way and improve public access.

There seems to be a certain amount of political support for these points of view, epitomised in recent years by a series of laws and ministerial orders.

The strength
The Danish Outdoor Council must look after the need for and interest in an active outdoor life on behalf of its member organisations and the general public.

In addition, the Council also has to function as an advisory organ to the public authorities.

The Council's strength and political influence are derived from the fact that its large and broad membership also represents the interests of the general public. This means that it is subject to more or less the same conflicts of interest as the rest of Danish society, and the strength and weight of the Council's work is derived from the way it deals with those conflicts.

Democracy
The basic premise underpinning the work of the Danish Outdoor Council is the democratic notion that the splendour of the landscape and nature is something the whole population has a right to share. Each and every one of us has a responsibility for protecting our common cultural heritage and we are all entitled to enjoy it.

Whatever we do - whatever form of nature management or regeneration we practise (or fail to practise) - nature is at the mercy of mankind. This is reflected in the Danish Outdoor Council's sophisticated view of nature and in the way the cultural environment is managed.

Political decisions and choices lay down the guidelines for development, while ethics and morals set the limits. As a result, the general public must be involved in order to ensure that the chance of coincidence or the perspectives of particular individuals or organisations do not tip the balance.

Limits
Although the Danish Outdoor Council is capacious and hold a lot of different interests it does have its limits. The Council is prepared to distance itself from existing and new outdoor activities if they have an unacceptable effect on nature and the environment or on society as a whole.

International relations
Since its inception, the Danish Outdoor Council has forged international contacts, originally in the camping sector and later in the context of its nature protection work. In recent years, its international work has been very much linked to campaigns for environmental certification and environmental education.

The Danish Outdoor Council sees it as a natural extension of its work in Denmark to derive inspiration and learn from experiences gathered elsewhere in the world. Similarly, the Council has a duty to put its knowledge and expertise at the disposal of the international community.

The democratic Danish organisation model, popular commitment and international understanding are important elements in this process.