Biodiversity-CHM.NL - Biodiversity Policy Programme 2008-2011

The challenge: preservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the light of globalisation

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The need to preserve and sustain biodiversity for future generations will remain a significant challenge in the coming years. Biodiversity remains under threat throughout the world. Natural resources are being steadily depleted and ecosystems are under threat. In addition to the extinction of species, the degradation of local biodiversity also constitutes a threat to our well-being, economic growth, sustainable development and security in the short term. Dutch policy will therefore focus more than ever on preserving the goods and services that ecosystems provide and promoting their sustainable use.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment states that the degradation of ecosystem services is the result of changes in land use, climate, the introduction of alien species, overexploitation and pollution. These factors are driven by major global trends such as population growth, increased prosperity and globalisation. The second Sustainability Outlook published by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency in 2007 also states that the loss of biodiversity has not been halted (see box 1). The agency added that the current policy would not achieve this objective.

Trends according to the second Sustainability Outlook:

There has been a lot of progress in development, but it is not evenly distributed.
Development has been at the expense of nature and the environment.
Technology has not compensated for population growth and consumption; pressure on land and energy consumption continue to increase.
More people, more consumption and more competition for raw materials.
The result is further loss of biodiversity and climate change.
Climate, biodiversity and development cannot be realised with the existing policy.
Consumption is leading to increased CO2 emissions and land use in the Netherlands.
The public and companies look to the government to compel changes in behaviour.
Sustainable development is not yet a guiding principle for the policy

The loss of biodiversity and natural resources may also jeopardise efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, see box 2). When viewed in the context of poverty alleviation, for example, the sustainable use of biodiversity and natural resources contributes to achieving MDG7 - the two issues are closely related. In this context, biodiversity can be seen as an integral part of the natural resources on which people depend. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment has shown that, right up to today, it has been impossible to reverse the downward spiral of biodiversity loss and growing poverty. The challenge is to turn this situation around. Economic growth and increased prosperity and welfare must be decoupled from the large-scale destruction of habitats and loss of biodiversity. Achieving this not only requires a more coherent policy; it also calls on us to make the sustainable use of biodiversity a key facet of economic activity, development strategies and poverty alleviation. Efforts to combat poverty and halt the loss of biodiversity must be seen in the context of globalisation, changing international relations and new markets.

The Millennium Development Goals are:

eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
achieve universal primary education
promote gender equality and empower women
reduce child mortality
improve maternal health
combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
ensure environmental sustainability
develop a global partnership for development

Current activities

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This section includes an overview of the various elements of the biodiversity dossier. For each European policy objective there is a brief outline of the regular Dutch activities in the coming four years.

Management and finance

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Programme-based management

The government of the Netherlands proposes to implement the policy programme ‘Biodiversity works: for nature, for people, forever ' via programme-based management. In response to recent experiences, the government has opted to focus on a limited number of priorities. The urgency and complexity of the selected priorities exceed the capacity of a single ministry. The policy programme will produce coherency in the ministries' activities and cooperation between them, and facilitate implementation of the programme. The funds for the policy programme will be allocated to the priority fields.

The programme-based management style calls for an inter-ministerial structure in which the policy priorities are incorporated into the biodiversity related themes of the various ministries. This structure must also act as a clear point of contact for the ‘Biodiversity and Natural Resources' task force and other allied platforms. The relevant ministries established an Interministerial Biodiversity Programme Team (IPB). The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality heads the IPB as the coordinating ministry for biodiversity. All the relevant ministries provide personnel and appointed a contact person.

The IPB is responsible for inter-ministerial consultation and coordination on the biodiversity policy. The team will focus on cooperation, coordination and strategic policy making with respect to the priorities formulated in the policy programme ‘Biodiversity works: for nature, for people, forever' and its implementation. The actual measures to be taken to implement the policy programme will be laid down each year in a work plan document. This will not affect the division of responsibilities between the ministries. Regular activities will be coordinated in broad terms but not at project level. In addition to the work plan for the priorities set out in this policy programme, the IPB will be responsible for translating recommendations and other findings of the task force into long-term implementation programmes for the transition.

Financial framework

The policy programme will be financed by the existing biodiversity-related funding. The estimated budget for the activities of the inter-ministerial programme team, the secretariat of the ‘Biodiversity and natural resources' task force and its platforms is 2.3 million Euro a year. This budget will be managed by the inter-ministerial programme team and projects will be carried out by an implementing organisation. The ministries most closely involved will share the costs equally.

Initiatives arising from inter-ministerial cooperation, the task force and platforms (both multilateral and bilateral) will be financed from the regular ministerial budgets. For each proposal, a decision will be taken on the most appropriate policy framework for financiering. An annual sum of approximately 230 million euro has been included in the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality's budget for measures partly aimed at the preservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. These concern measures such as environmental conditions in nature areas, the habitat approach, management, international biodiversity, sustainable enterprise and knowledge and research. Initiatives related to Dutch biodiversity in particular will have to be financed from this budget. Of the funds set aside for environmental policy, approximately 1.5 million euro is available each year for the transition needed to promote sustainable biodiversity. Under the budget available for development cooperation, expenditure relating directly to biodiversity totalled approximately 90 million euro in 2007. The level of spending is expected to remain static in the coming four years. The budget has enough leeway to cover any new initiatives that may arise from the policy programme, provided they meet the criteria for development cooperation. Besides the budget for development cooperation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' budget for the Matra programme is also relevant, since nature protection is one of the programme themes eligible for financing in this programme's pan-European regions.

Monitoring and evaluation

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Evaluation

The government of the Netherlands will report to the Lower House of Parliament every year on the progress of this policy programme. The report will include a financial section summarising how the available resources have been spent. It will also indicate how much has been spent on regular biodiversity activities. This financial section will not replace the relevant chapters in the ministerial budgets concerned, but will summarise them and show how they relate to one another. The Dutch government wishes to provide an overall financial report on biodiversity policy in this way. The progress reports will also explain what specific activities the government expects to see carried out in the year ahead.

The Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP) will also report on the policy's performance in its balances, partly in relation to the actual quality of biodiversity in the Netherlands. In its forecasts, including its sustainability forecasts, the MNP will also report on performance in an international context, placing the policy programme in a wider context.

The MNP reports will maintain the framework for biodiversity indicators developed as part of the Biodiversity Convention (CBD). With a view to the European objective for 2010, the programme will also adhere to the pan- European indicator system, SEBI 2010 (currently in development). What is crucial when using these indicators is the cohesion between conservation, sustainable use (integration into economic sectors), public support and pressure factors (such as inadequate environmental quality).

Monitoring

In addition, starting in 2007 the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality will report annually on the state of Dutch biodiversity, based on an indicator developed within the context of the Vital Rural Area Agenda (AVP). The indicator is based on the long-term biodiversity target laid down in the ‘Nature for people, people for nature' policy document: ‘The conditions for the preservation of all naturally occurring species and populations in the Netherlands in 1982 will be permanently present in 2020.' The Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment will also facilitate the development and application of a soil biological indicator, undertaken by RIVM. The government will continue to support the essential role that Private Data Managing Organisations (PGOs) play in monitoring and providing data for biodiversity indicators.

Enforcement program

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Action program in addition to the biodiversity policy program. It contains accountable targets, timeframes and indications of available budgets. Only available in Dutch.

Netherlands Biodiversity Policy programme 2008-2011

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Complete text of the biodiversity policy programme 2008-2011

Film: Introduction Biodiversity Policy Program

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Short film introducing the Dutch Biodiversity Policy Programme 2008-2011