Due to nitrogen pollution, desiccation and fragmentation, Dutch nature is in the second-worst state in the EU. Still, recovery is possible, leading ecologists tell NU.nl. It is crucial that nitrogen is reduced, but also that agriculture and nature go together again. And that is being done in more and more places.
The big challenge, say the ecologists, is that we learn to live together with nature again. Their dream image for the Netherlands is not large enclosed nature reserves, but a landscape in which nature, agriculture and human habitation go hand in hand. That landscape has had the Netherlands for many centuries, and only disappeared in the twentieth century.
“Our sketched dream image often lies in the past, not in the future,” says Professor of Plant Ecology Hans de Kroon of Radboud University in Nijmegen. “But the nature of the past is not coming back.”
De Kroon ended up in the international spotlight in 2017 with a shocking study about the decline of insects. More than three quarters disappeared in just 27 years. Insects, together with wild plants, form the basis for ecology. Are we experiencing a complete collapse of natural life?
Dykes can become new flower meadows
That is not necessary, says De Kroon: “The decline can be turned upwards. But that will be in a new, natural landscape.”
He refers to a project for ‘flowery dykes’, together with the water boards. The secret there is mainly a different mowing policy. Now verges and dikes are mowed with a harmful flail mower. He chops up all the plants and leaves the remains. Nitrogen accumulates higher and higher in such verges and ultimately only grass and nettle remain alive.
That soon changes with a policy of ‘mow and remove’ – and not all at once, but ‘phased’ so that flowers can set seed and caterpillars can grow into butterflies. Within a few years, the results will be visible: on dikes along the Rhine, harebells, the great centaury, wild marjoram and countless other herbs are blooming again. And dozens of wild bee species are counted again.
If this policy also in roadsides If applied, the flourishing grasslands that were once characteristic of the Dutch landscape would return – but in a new place.
The great centaury, a wild flower that belongs in the river landscape.
The great centaury, a wild flower that belongs in the river landscape. Photo: Ivar Leidus
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No recovery as long as nitrogen blanket gets thicker
Still, the mop with the tap will remain open as long as the major underlying problem is not tackled: nitrogen. Last Friday, Minister Christianne van der Wal for Nature and Nitrogen presented the cabinet’s nitrogen plan. These emissions must be sharply reduced, to stop the loss of species and habitats, and to meet European requirements for nature protection.
We’re not that far yet. Dutch nature will deteriorate even further in many places. This is because nitrogen builds up: as long as the emissions remain high, the blanket gets thicker and the damage from, for example, grassing and acidification years ahead.
In fact, everyone has to wait for that blanket of nitrogen to thin again, says Joop Schaminée, professor of plant ecology at the universities of Wageningen and Nijmegen. “In the meantime, we need to prevent countless species from disappearing for good.”
There, Schaminée, together with colleague Nils van Rooijen,The Living Archive‘ for set up – an attempt to save all endangered plants in the Netherlands from extinction. These plants often only occur in tiny populations and fragmented areas.
The seeds are carefully stored in Wageningen and Nijmegen, so that the endangered plants have a chance to eventually return to Dutch nature when the nitrogen surplus is gone.
Plant pioneer lost his hope, until just before his death
On Monday, the ecologists met at Radboud University, where the Victor Westhoff lecture was held, named after the biologist who became famous in the last century for his reflections on Dutch nature.
“Westhoff himself was not very optimistic,” says Schaminée. “He has experienced decades of decline in Dutch nature, initiated by land consolidation, urbanization and the ever-increasing intensification of agriculture.”
That hurt him a lot, says Schaminée, who spent a lot of time as a student with Westhoff, who died in 2001. “His most beloved landscape was in Twente. He did not want to return there for years, because so much had been lost. In the end we persuaded him to look at the result of nature restoration at Ootmarsum.”
Eating a piece of raisin bread in a farmyard, Westhoff confessed to Schaminée that it exceeded his expectations. “Nature restoration may be possible after all.”
Where hedges return to farmland, biodiversity increases again.
Where hedges return to farmland, biodiversity increases again. Photo: Valentijn te Plate, Association of Dutch Cultural Landscape
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Managing a living landscape may cost a bit
The new generation of ecologists has held onto that hope. And they are also firmly established in society. For example, emeritus professor Louise Vet of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology launched the Delta Plan for Biodiversity Recovery† In addition to farmers and conservationists, major social players such as LTO, ProRail and Rabobank are affiliated. “There is a strongly growing bottom-up movement of farmers working for change. It is brimming with inspiring alternatives,” says Vet.
According to Vet, the key is the development of new revenue models. “Farmers who manage our landscape and restore nature must be paid for this. A healthy living landscape is a utility.”
An example is the Ooijpolder, where farmers and conservationists restore the hedge landscape. There, too, the diversity of flowering plants, insects and birds is increasing again. And the farmers also have a future.
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