Joint Meeting of the Nature, Marine and Water Directors Meeting of 4 December 2013, Vilnius Stefan Berggren, Director Swedish Ministry of the Environment

Background - The Environmental Objectives System in Sweden New target structure adopted by the Parliament Generational Goal: defines the direction of environmental policy. 16 Environmental Quality Objectives: describe the state of the environment that environmental action is to result in. Milestone Targets: define steps on the way to achieving the environmental quality objectives and the generational goal. The Government and the Riksdag have developed the environmental objectives system, Focus on implementation and measures to meet current environmental challenges. In 2010, the Riksdag approved several changes to the system including a new target structure consisting of… The generational goal was adopted by the Riksdag in 2010. The goal should guide environmental action at every level of society. The goal is to pass on to the next generation a society in which the major environmental problems have been solved, without increasing environmental and health problems beyond Sweden’s borders. Policy instruments and measures to solve environmental problems in Sweden must be designed to ensure that Sweden does not export environmental problems.   The 16 Environmental quality objectives previously adopted by the Riksdag indicate the desired state of the Swedish environment. The government has adopted specifications to define the environmental status to be achieved. The specifications also serve as criteria when assessing progress towards the objectives and help guide environmental action. The milestone targets define steps on the way to achieving the EQO and the generational goal. Identify a desired change in society needed. They replace the former interim targets, but are focused more on priority areas and are aiming to be cross-cutting over the EQO.

Milestone Target on the importance of biodiversity and the value of ecosystem services The importance of biodiversity and the value of ecosystem services are to be generally known and integrated into economic considerations, political considerations and other decisions in society, by 2018 at the latest.

Reports commissioned by the Government Report on Sweden’s most important ecosystem services (Swedish Environmental Protection Agency & Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management) Reports on Green Infrastructure (Swedish Environmental Protection Agency) Inquire report: Making the value of ecosystem services visible (Analysis of actions and methods to better valuate ecosystem services and to improve the knowledge base)

Work ahead The Government is preparing a bill to be presented in early spring 2014. The aim with the bill is to describe how measures can be implemented at national, regional and municipal level in order to reach the milestone target.