Greenpeace Denmark launches fake tourism ad to highlight pollution

"Through the campaign, which is available on social networks as well as on billboards in Brussels and Warsaw, we are inviting Europeans to discover the wonders of Denmark's agricultural landscape," Christian Fromberg, head of agriculture and nature at Greenpeace Denmark, told AFP Thursday.

With a tone of sarcasm Fromberg went on to describe the sights: "Here we find asphyxiated seas littered with mysterious brown sludge, car parks and golf courses that are in officially protected natural areas".

In the Scandinavian country, which prides itself on being a leader in the combating climate change, human activities, particularly waste from agriculture, have suffocated marine ecosystems.

The equivalent of 7,500 square kilometres (2,896 square miles) of the waters around the country, or 17 percent of the surface area of mainland Denmark, has been affected by deoxygenation, leading to the disappearance of marine flora and fauna, according to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.

"The campaign is a cry for help to the European Union to enforce the environmental regulations systematically violated by the Danish government," Fromberg said.

Greenpeace believes that Denmark, which takes over the presidency of the European Union in July, has repeatedly violated the EU Water Framework Directive, which requires member states to implement measures to ensure healthy aquatic ecosystems.

"The current government will not take the necessary measures to revitalise our seas and protect our environment," Fromberg said.

At the same time, a broad majority of Danish politicians have agreed to introduce a carbon tax on livestock farming by 2030.

Denmark has also committed to make agriculture greener, aiming to reduce nitrogen emissions by 13,780 tonnes a year by 2027.