In Sweden the cooperation is taking place mainly at authority level, with all the other defence authorities acting as important players. On environmental matters the different defence authorities assist with their areas of competence in research and material, for example. As sector authority for the defence sector, the Armed Forces play a coordinating role, which also involves working hard to achieve ecologically sustainable development.
In the period 2004-2006 the defence sector produced a joint environmental study of the entire sector, and new environmental targets have been produced and established on the basis of this study. These common sector targets apply to the period 2007-2011 and will act as a guide to the environmental work done in the respective authorities within the sector.
Within this group of authorities it has also been decided to work jointly, through the Chemical Group of the Defence Sector, to improve the handling of chemical products in order to reduce the risks to the working environment and the environment generally.
- Authorities of the Defence Sector
- The Armed Forces (AF)
- The Armed Forces Materiel Department (AFMD)
- The Armed Forces Radio Authority (AFRA)
- The Armed Forces College (AFC)
- The Total Defence Research Institute (TDRI)
- The Fortification Department (FORTD)
The Armed Forces contribute in several different fields in international deference environment cooperation. The cooperation takes the form of cooperation agreements, project cooperation, participation in defence environment networks etc. Trilateral cooperation between the Armed Forces and the respective defence departments of Finland and the USA has commenced in the field of environmental protection on international missions, the task of this cooperation being to produce guidelines on environmental matters and health protection in connection with international operations.
In 2006 the Armed Forces completed a cooperation project with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence with the aim of producing a military environmental handbook for the armed forces in Ukraine. The project was implemented with assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Sweden has a bilateral cooperation agreement with Russia, which is continuing with exchange of information and dialogue on conceivable cooperation projects. The conditions for a Russian project proposal have been examined in the course of 2007.
A trilateral cooperation project began in 2006 between the Armed Forces and the Ministries of Defence of Estonia and Georgia. The goal of the project was to introduce an environmental management system in the respective armed forces and for it to be implemented with assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The bilateral cooperation with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, which commenced in the spring of 2007, has the same objective, and is also being implemented with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.