Minister Van der Wal makes the Netherlands nature-inclusive

Van der Wal shared her mission on Thursday during a debate with the agricultural committee about nature. ‘Our ambition goes further than just preserving and enhancing nature. I want to work on making the Netherlands more nature-inclusive. Nature is not only found in a forest, a nature reserve or a strip of dunes. It is also located in the park and in the green belts in the neighbourhood.’

The ambition is not only limited to the Netherlands. The cabinet also wants to champion nature conservation in Europe and beyond, for example to combat deforestation.

The VVD minister drew attention to the vulnerability of nature. ‘If we want too much with our activities and exhaust nature even more, there will be holes in our ecosystem. With the nitrogen problem, we have seen that we have gone too long over the limit of what nature can handle. It is now important to provide breathing space for nature and for the farmer.’

Densely populated

Van der Wal believes that choices must be made to tackle the nitrogen problem. She emphasized that the Netherlands is densely populated and must fit and measure with the claims on space. ‘We have to realize that not everything is possible everywhere’, she said, in line with the nitrogen advice of the Remkes Committee.

However, the first step to break the nitrogen impasse is to adopt, possibly mandatory, measures that are legally tenable, says the minister. Only when there is ‘legal inevitability’ can the plans be implemented, so that there is room to implement the intended nitrogen approach.

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