Negotiations for a new government are in full swing, and one of the topics that we look forward to being included in the government's foundation is a new biodiversity law.

The Biodiversity Act should be a law that, like the Climate Act, should set targets for how large a proportion of Denmark's land and sea area should be protected and strictly protected nature. A law that should stop the loss of species, ensure better protection of nature and give wild nature more space.

Around 1.900 species are currently threatened and at risk of disappearing from Denmark, and despite decades of efforts, the trend has not yet been reversed. The main reason for the poor state of nature on land is that nature lacks space, because we use too large a proportion of the land area for intensive agriculture, forestry and other human activities. In the sea, nature is threatened by, among other things, bottom-dragged fishing, nutrient discharge and many other activities that destroy marine ecosystems. There is a consensus among biodiversity researchers that the solution is to allocate space for nature, where it is effectively protected and managed.

The previous government failed to introduce a biodiversity law, despite the fact that it was both part of the government's foundation and was written into the Green Tripartite agreement. Therefore, it is incredibly important that the next government takes the task seriously. Because report after report shows that nature is getting worse and worse.

It is therefore also gratifying that several parties support a biodiversity law. In the election campaign, the SF, the Unity List, the Radical Left and the Alternative came out together with a clear demand that a future government adopt a nature and biodiversity law with a binding target of 30% protected nature on land and at sea, of which one third must be strictly protected nature. We hope that a broad circle of parties in the Folketing will support the ambition in the future, so that a broad and long-term agreement can be made - we owe that to nature.

During the election campaign, green organizations called for the upcoming biodiversity law to:

• Secures 30 percent protected nature on land and at sea. Protected nature must be natural areas where nature is effectively protected from threats to biodiversity. In protected nature, for example, there cannot be intensive agriculture, forestry and fishing with bottom trawls.

• Secures 10 percent strictly protected nature on land and at sea. This means that one third of the protected nature must be strictly protected. Strictly protected nature must be large, continuous natural areas where wild nature is restored. Here, nature has priority over other interests, but with new opportunities for fantastic nature experiences.

• Secures Biodiversity Council in the Act. The Council's tasks shall be to continuously assess the government's efforts and goal achievement.

A biodiversity law is an opportunity to make a real difference for the endangered Danish nature – we urge the new Folketing to seize it!

This debate post was published in Naturmonitor on April 27, 2026, and was written by Maria Reumert Gjerding from the Danish Nature Conservation Society, Mikkel Aarø-Hansen from WWF, Jakob Chronicle from the Forests of the World, Egon Østergaard from the Danish Ornithological Society, Christian Fromberg from Greenpeace, Christian Ege Jørgensen from the Green Transition Denmark, Philip Hahn-Petersen from Wild With Will, Jens Fahrendorff from the Young Biodiversity Ambassadors. Johannes Skriver Elf from the Green Youth Movement, Stine Bardeleben Helles from the Climate Movement in Denmark, Anna Rask Larsen from FLOR, Danna Borg from Denmark's Wild Nature, June Rebekka Bresson from the Environmental Movement NOAH, Martin Køhl Søholm from the Danish Botanical Society, Anton Johnsen from Danish Natural Grazing, Thomas Bjørneboe Berg from the Danish Mammal Association, Niklas Hegnsted from Nature & Youth, Jonas Colling Larsen from the Danish Species Association, Emma Emilie Andersen from the Biology Association & Christian Videnkjær from the Lepidopterological Society.