Sweden

Committee Established to Draft Environmental Policy Guidelines

In a comprehensive statement*, Sweden's Minister for Agriculture and the Environment presented directives for a special committee which is to pre- pare guidelines regarding future Swedish policy on natural resources and the envi- ronment.

The committee is to have two prin- cipal functions, namely, to draw up gen- eral guidelines for a comprehensive policy regarding long-term management of natural resources, and to conduct an overall evaluation of environmental protection measures which have already been implemented in Sweden. Although interim reports are anticipated, the com- mittee has been charged to draw up a first draft of guidelines and to conclude its work before the end of 1981. It is expected that policy guidelines will be supplemented by proposals which out- line how the guidelines can be converted into practical measures.

The directives acknowledge that technological and economic develop- ment have resulted in considerable im- provements in the conditions under which people live. Such development, however, has had negative aspects which have become increasingly evident. The rise in material standards is conceded to have been achieved partially at the price of mismanaging natural resources. Sweden further acknowledges that na- tional efforts must go hand in hand with international efforts in order to achieve a rational management and an equitable distribution of global resources. The ultimate objective is "satisfaction of the basic needs of mankind without wasting or ravaging natural resources and with- out exceeding the limits the earth can tolerate." Scarcity, uneven distribution of natural resources, and the limited ability of the earth to tolerate pollution, are factors which the Swedish govern- ment cites as underlining the need for more conscientious management of natural resources on the part of indus- trial nations.

Realization of the need for improved management of natural resources has

made great strides in Sweden, as evi- denced by measures in the last decade directed largely to the gradual remedy- ing of unsatisfactory conditions such as air and water pollution. The Swedish government candidly admits that most measures to date have been concerned with problems which have been clearly defined and where acceptable technical solutions have been available at reason- able cost. While such efforts constitute a legitimate "introductory phase" of en- vironmental policy, Sweden, by attemp- ting to evolve comprehensive guidelines, has acknowledged that it must now attempt to "apply a wider perspective in the policy concerning environmental protection." This enhanced perspective necessarily incorporates exercises in which environmental measures are com- prehensively evaluated and assigned priorities. While past emphasis has been on restorative measures, more attention will be devoted to measures designed to prevent further deterioration of the en- vironment.

*This statement, originally prepared for Cabinet minutes, was presented to the Swedish legislative assembly (Riksdag) by the Minister for Foreign Affairs on March 15, 1978.

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An introductory task of the com- mittee will be to determine what changes in resource utilization will have to be made in order to help facilitate sound ecological management. In this connection, the committee shall at- tempt to estimate the limits of tolerance for disturbance to which various ecolog- ical systems may be exposed without jeopardizing the quality of life for future generations; a concomitant func- tion will also be the definition of an ac- ceptable concept of the "quality of life".

Other committee responsibilities will include an attempt to delineate the way in which the development of society can be influenced by rational environmental management and to indicate the pace at which this can be accomplished. An- other task includes the identification of areas in which natural resource policy and other societal goals are likely to conflict. The socioeconomic conse- quences of models derived from the analysis are also to be considered.

The Minister stated that the commit- tee's work should be regarded as an "introduction to a programme of inves- tigative activity ... in which the experi- ence gained from the first stage will form the basis for decisions as to how the con- tinued work should be carried on".

DVB []

Korea, DPR

Conservation of Nature in the Democratic Peoples's Republic of Korea*

The following text is reprinted to illustrate the effect which different political ideologies have on approaches to conservation of nature. Ed.

It will give us a great pleasure if the following successes and experiences of ours can be encouraging and of any help to you, the well-known world enthu- siasts for the conservation of nature who are exerting sincere efforts to free mankind from the grip of nature and ensure them eternal happiness, and to the discussion of the draft of the strategy.

The conservation of nature in our country is of paramount importance. This is because the rich mineral, forest and water resources of our country are valuable assets in the construction of

*Speech presented by the Chief Delegate at the IUCN Technical Meeting in Ashkhabad, USSR, 28 Sept. 1978.

the independent national economy and ensuring the people a happy life. And it is because the grain problem for a great number of population can't be solved completely without a thorough conser- vation of land in our country. Moun- tains cover 80% of our country, the arable land is restricted, and our country has droughts and long spells of rain every year.

But the conservation of nature before liberation in our country was in a miserable state. The Japanese imperi- alists occupied our country and plun- dered it of valuable natural resources without taking any measures for the conservation of nature. So forests were quite devastated, the towns and villages sustained damages every year by land- slides and floods and the agricultural production was quite backward due to the droughts and long spells of rain.

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In 1942, a year of Japanese imperi- alists' occupation, more than 2000 hectres of arable land, some 1500 peasant houses were flooded and des- troyed, and some 50,000 residents suffered calamities by the flood of the River Potong-gang. Such a ruined nature of our country suffered a still more severe damage by the indiscriminate bombing of the heinous U.S. imperi- alist robbers, and forest resources were ruined to such an extent that there could hardly be any place for birds' settlement.

The great Leader Comrade Kim I1 Sung, the President of state of the DPRK, restored our fatherland from the yoke of the Japanese imperialists and unfolded his far-reaching plans of establishing a socialist paradise on this land good to live in, and thus opened up a new era for conservation of nature and has led wisely the entire people to carry on this work. The conservation of nature in our country has been waged consistantly according to the Juche idea of the great Leader since liberation.

The great Leader Comrade Kim I1 Sung taught as follows: "In a word, Juche idea is an idea that the masters of revolution and construction are the masses of the people, and the masses of the people are the driving force in revolution and construction. In other words, one is the master of one's own destiny and one has the capacity for looking out for one's own destiny".

The great Juche idea based itself on the philosophical principles that man is the master of everything and man decides everything. And it requires everyone to think of everything with man as the centre of one's thinking and serve man devotedly.

So the essence of the conservation of nature in the DPRK lies in the fact that all the natural elements should serve man, the master of nature and society. The conservation of nature should become the work of man and the masses of the people themselves, which is the most powerful being in the world. From this, the conservation of nature which includes the whole of nature- remaking and the conservation of nature, is carried out in a broad way in the DPRK, and the state and the people are united as one in carrying out this work vigorously.

Brillant successes have been scored in the course of putting into practice the Juche-oriented ideas and lines of conservation of nature, with the Juche

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idea of the great Leader as a guide, and they have displayed great vitality.

The important successes achieved in the conservation of nature in our country are, first of all, found in the fact that the land resources and water resources are well conserved and utllised, thanks to the successful implementation of the lines of irrigation, afforestation and water conservancy work set forth by the great Leader.

Today, in our country, some 1200 reservoirs, including the "Mother Reser- voir" Lake Yonpung-ho, and the lakes of Manpung-ho, Unpa-ho, Sohung-ho and Taesong-ho. Tens of thousands of wells, laid-pipes and pumping stations are connected to one another in a network of tens of thousands of kilo- metres of water routes, forming a well- regulated irrigation system. Besides, projects for checking landslides and river construction and readjustment work have been pushed forward stead- fastly. Now our country knows no natural calamities any more.

So solid foundations of agricultural production, safe from any conditions of nature and climate, have been laid in the northern half of the Republic once known as the remotest mountain area in the past. We have a bumper crop every year despite terrible influences of the cold-front overwhelming the world at present, and the whole country has turned into a granary. For a long time now we have produced 2 - 3 times as much grain annually as against that before liberation.

Another great success achieved in the conservation of nature lies in the fact that forests are well built, conserved and managed so that the biological resources should be incessantly increased, and the whole conservation work of nature has been pushed ahead vigorously. The work of forest creation has been energetically waged and the whole country has long been greened. Now forests protect all the other natural elements and play a great role in improving the life-environ- ment of man. Thanks to the successful implementation of creating economic- valued forests and conservation and breeding of useful animals and plants, put forward by the great Leader, our mountains have become dense with hundreds of thousands of hectres of economic-valued forest such as oil- yielding forests and paper fibre forests.

Useful animals and plants including valuable medical plants such as wild insams, forest asiabells, speciality plants such as pentactina rupicola Nak, Keum-

gangsania asiatica (Nak) Kim, and valuable animals including deer, musk deer, Korean tigers, and tristram's woodpeckers are all preserved and conserved. So all the mountains have been changed into "silk mountains", "oil-yielding mountains" and "treasure mountains", and the working people are materially benifited quite a lot from forests alone.

The whole territory of our country has turned into a cultural life-environ- ment of the working people, free from any pollution. This is one of the most important achievements of our in the conservation of nature.

According to the Juche idea of the great Leader on conservation of nature, we have distributed the productive powers to all the places rationally. When we develop a mine or erect a factory we see to it that proper con- servation measures of nature, such as tailings precipitation places and re- fining establishments of filthy water, are thoroughly taken first, and we fix the sizes of cities not too large and thoroughly green the towns and villages. These are the principles we maintain.

Though the industrialization of the country has been completed and the level of industrialization in all the branches of the national economy have been heightened incessantly, air and water pollution have been strictly checked, so the working people have been working happily in a fine life- environment and the fresh water re- sources have been continually increasing. Also modern recreation grounds have been built in all the scenic spots such as Mt. Kumgang-san and Mt. Myohyangsan. Many places for conservation of nature, and conservation areas of animals and plants have been built including the Mt. Baekdu-san Nature Conservation Area and the Mt. Oga-san Nature Conservation Area. So all the natural elements play a great role in the cultural rest and health promotion, in the development of natural science.

Indeed, the nature of our country, where terrible devastation caused cala- mities in the past, has been wonder- fully remade and conserved and it has become a valuable asset for the pros- perity of the country and the happiness of the people, for a cultural life-envi- ronment of the people. All the great successes we have achieved in the con- servation of nature we owe to the Juche idea of the great Leader Comrad e Kiln I1 Sung on nature conservation and his wise leadership which has brought

Environmental Policy and Law, 4 (1978)

about victories in the conservation of nature.

The great Leader Comrade Kim I1 Sung has paid deep concern to the conservation work of nature and set forth Juche-oriented directions and ways of the conservation of nature in each period and at each stage, though very busy looking after all the affairs in revolution and construction.

These Juche-oriented ideas and lines of the conservation of nature are gath- ered together in The Land Law of the DPRK prepared by the great Leader Comrade Kim I1 Sung and adopted in 1977.

We could achieve brilliant successes in the consertion of nature thanks to the Juche-oriented ideas and lines of the great Leader, and we can push ahead more energetically with this work as we have now the socialist Land Law, a powerful weapon for the conservation of nature. And the great Leader has organized and mobilized the broad masses of the people in this work and made this the work of the masses themselves, so that we have been able to score successes in the grandiose conservation work of nature which covers the entire territory and the implementation of both remaking and conservation.

The establishment of an advanced socialist system in our country enabled the masses of the people to become true masters of the country, and to consider nature and natural resources as valuable wealth of the country and people, conserving and managing in a responsible way. The great Leader, who always takes concern to free our people com- pletely from the grips of nature, has provided the masses of the people with all conditions for strengthening the ideological education and for the disse- mination of works of science and technique, so that they may raise their consciousness as masters of the country and display creativeness to the full in the conservation of nature. He makes every effort and pays deep attention to the conservation work of nature and has led the work wisely.

On the 21 of May, 1946, the first spring after liberation, the great l_hader Comrade Kim I1 Sung initiated the riparian works on the River Potong- gang and, by shovelling first, lighted a signal-fire. In the next springhe climbed up the Munsu-bong hill and planted trees, and thus inspired and led the people to green the whole country. So the riparian works on the River

Environmental Policy and Law, 4 (1978)

Pistachio nuts growing inTurkmen ia Photo: WEB

Potong-gang were completed in only 55 days; these works have been left over by the Japanese after ten years of work. We greened all the mountains in a short span of time. All these successes are attributable to the close combination of the deep love of the great Leader. They have completed any hard tasks feeling his love wholeheartedly.

Regional sections under the charge of public institutions, enterprises and co- operative farms have been organized to make the masses participate in the con- servation work of nature.

The conservation of nature is being organized more vigorously on a nation- wide scale on the occasions of the planting days and the month of readjust- ment of rivers and streams. Another success in .the work of conservation of nature is that the great Leader has established the system of nature conser- vation.

Under the direct care of, the great Leader Comrade Kim I1 Sung the Association for Conservation of Nature of our country has become a powerful collective for the conservation of nature which includes 12 associations and lots of smaller organizations. It intensifies mass education and scientific research work, and under the leadership

of our Party, vigorously conducts the work of nature conservation in close combination with managerial bodies, mass organizations and scientific and educational organizations.

The state system of planning land construction has been established and the prospective plan of land construction for 30 - 50 years has been mapped out in full consideration of all the natural elements and the prospect of the coun- try's development. An original system of land management has been set up, so the nature-remaking and conservation and mangement of land and natural resources has been pushed ahead success- fully.

All the institutions connected with the conservation of nature move under the unitary leadership of the great Leader with the Juche-oriented ideas and lines of nature conservation as the guide. Therefore, nature in our country is well conserved and managed with a clear aim, and it serves effectively for a mighty fatherland and the promotion of the welfare of the people.

In a nutshell, our experience in the work of conservation of nature tells us that when a state takes deep concern in conservation of nature, maps out lines in accordance with the idea of the people, and takes practical measures to make the people participate in this work, the conservation of nature can be carried out successfully.

The great Leader Comrade Kim II Sung, the President of the state of the DPRK, formulated Juche-oriented ideas of the conservation of nature, and has put forward original lines and led the entire people wisely.

That's why the silk-embroidered land of our could get out of darkness in the new era of history - the Juche era - and shed brilliant trays over the whole world, and why all the people could be freed from the natural grips for ever, and lead a happy life infinitely.

"In the future, too, we will devote all our knowledge and talent to the struggle to live up to the great trust which the state and the people showed in assigning us with the work of pushing ahead with nature conservation, to achieve the coun- try's reunification according to the 3 principles and 5 point programmes of the country's reunification set forth by the great Leader, to build a beautiful paradise in the 3000 ri of our land, and to make an active contribution to the sacred work of freeing mankind from the grips of na- ture and ensuring them a boundlessly happy life." []

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