New Dutch government facing massive nature conservation task after recent years' neglect

The Jetten I Cabinet faces a massive challenge if it wants to honor the agreements of the Nature Pact, as the D66, CDA, and VVD promised to do in their coalition agreement. The new government will have to create nature areas six times the size of De Hoge Veluwe National Park in two years, NU.nl reports.

The Nature Pact, implemented over ten years ago, states that the government would strengthen nature by expanding and connecting its nature reserves. This makes it easier for species to move from one area to another, giving populations more space to grow and making them more resilient against droughts and diseases.

However, recent governments seem to have forgotten about this ambition, and the strengthening of nature hasn’t progressed much since 2016, according to the newspaper. As a result, this Cabinet will have to add another 30,000 hectares of nature by 2027, when the Nature Pact agreements expire.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality told NU.nl that nature expansion has stalled in recent years, partly due to zoning uncertainty in rural areas. According to the newspaper, the Ministry failed to mention that it itself is partly responsible for this uncertainty by failing to come up with a legally viable solution to the nitrogen crisis.

Achieving the Nature Pact will also not be the end of the Netherlands’ nature conservation work. Last fall, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) warned that 100,000 to 150,000 hectares of farmland would have to be converted into nature reserves by 2050 to achieve the European nature conservation goals. That will require drastic choices. And if the government doesn’t make them, the PBL expects more lawsuits and crises like the nitrogen crisis.