Coordination
Over the last twelve months it has become clear that central government increasingly supports a more decentralised implementation of nature and landscape policy. The provinces and municipalities are being given more decision-making powers over areas such as management, landscape works and funding. Policy is also being given an increasingly area-based and regional focus.
Land use policy a priority
The provincial and municipal councils and the water boards will in future be charged with achieving central government objectives for rural areas. They must continue to guide future development and land use from a coherent set of unequivocal principles. Given the scale of ecosystems and the landscape, the provincial councils will have to take on the central coordinating role. Without a clear planning regime and an active commitment from local and regional authorities, the spatial connectivity of ecosystems and habitats will not be achieved, and further fragmentation will occur.
Active commitment also requires financial resources. While the new Rural Areas Investment Budget provides greater transparency in the financing of integrated area development, it is also becoming clear that the available funds are insufficient for achieving the stated objectives. The extra sources of finance that are expected to provide the required funds, such as the ‘red for green’ arrangements (financing green areas from the returns on real estate development), have not yet come up to expectations.
On-farm conservation and wildlife and landscape management by private landowners can contribute to achieving the original biodiversity and landscape conservation objectives. This type of management will have to be concentrated in the right areas in order to transform the fragmented patchworks of nature reserves and conservation areas within the National Ecological Network into a coherent network of habitats and landscape units.
The ultimate goal of Dutch nature policy is the conservation of individual species, such as the Tree Frog and the Black-tailed Godwit. Nature does not easily lend itself to manipulation by human hand, though. Achieving the intended biodiversity and quality of green spaces will ultimately be better served by developing, managing and monitoring the spatial and environmental conditions required to sustain the desired habitats than by focusing on individual species.
