ABSTRACT
Denmark is a small country with a relatively high proportion of coastal land. The country relies on its coastal resources for their significant contribution to its environment and economy and has traditionally implemented strong measures to ensure their protection. These measures include not only a minimum 100 m wide coastal setback zone, but also a 3 km wide Coastal Planning Zone – the widest protection zone identified across the countries in this book. Nevertheless, since 2015, following the election of a liberal-conservative government, the country has seen a pushback against some of its most stringent coastal regulations, particularly affecting the Coastal Planning Zone, in favour of landowner interests, and a decentralisation of the coastal protection administration. This chapter provides a snapshot of Danish coastal zone regulation at this juncture.
