The Nationwide Monitoring and Assessment Programme for the Aquatic and Terrestrial Environments (NOVANA) entered into force on 1 January 2004.
The overall objective of NOVANA is to monitor the status of the aquatic and terrestrial environments and the pressures upon them, i.e. to:
Describe sources of pollution and other pressures and their impact on the status of the aquatic and terrestrial environments and identify trends
Generally document the effect of national action plans and measures directed at the aquatic and terrestrial environments including whether the objectives are achieved and whether the trends are in the desired direction
Meet Denmark’s obligations in relation to EU legislation, international conventions and national legislation
Contribute to enhancing the scientific basis for future international measures, national action plans, regional management and other measures to improve the aquatic and terrestrial environments, including contributing to develop various tools.
With this programme Denmark can fulfil its international monitoring and reporting obligations concerning nature and the aquatic environment at least at a minimum level.
The NOVANA programme replaces the Danish Aquatic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (NOVA-2003), which had been running since 1998. This programme derived from the 1987 Action Plan on the Aquatic Environment, which included the establishment of a monitoring programme for the aquatic environment to supplement environmental supervision by the regional authorities. The intention with NOVANA is to incorporate nature monitoring and especially monitoring of species and terrestrial natural habitats into the national monitoring, not least in the light of Denmark’s obligations under the Habitats Directive. In contrast to NOVA-2003, NOVANA therefore includes monitoring of species and terrestrial natural habitats. Moreover, greater priority has been accorded to aquatic species and habitats.
The actors involved in the programme are the National Environmental Research Institute, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, the Danish EPA, the Danish Forest and Nature Agency, the regional authorities (the Counties, Regional Municipality of Bornholm, Copenhagen Municipality and Frederiksberg Municipality). Overall responsibility for the programme and for its coordination lies with the National Environmental Research Institute. NOVANA activities carried out by the regional authorities are funded via government block grants. In addition, the regional authorities have incorporated part of their environmental supervision activities into the aquatic environment monitoring.
