Biodiversity Works: Approaches and actions

A national Business and Biodiversity initiative is to be launched to assist companies wishing to actively pursue the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity. Examples of possible measures are better information provision, supportive research and development of analytical instruments. The Dutch government will also review whether public-private partnerships can be developed with specific companies and sectors.

Special attention will be given to soil, an ecosystem that can provide a number of socially valuable services. Soil has a significant influence on the type of nature that can grow above ground, and plays an important role in farming methods. In the recent years the government of the Netherlands has started to formulate policy relating to the biological quality of soil, for example by setting up a monitoring network to measure that quality. The results of this network will be used to establish a sustainable use benchmark for a number of land use and soil type combinations. The monitoring network and the reference scenarios will support the transition to more sustainable farming practices and nature development in rural areas. The government will continue to pursue this policy by emphasising new packages of voluntary measures and innovative technologies in collaboration with users, such as the agricultural sector. It will also stress the importance of soil biodiversity and soil ecosystem functions in international discussions.

The agricultural sector is making the transition to sustainable farming. By making greater use of ecosystem services, thise sector can reduce its reliance on external inputs and make production more sustainable. The government will support these very promising innovative routes, for example by setting up experiments under the Investment Budget for Rural Areas (ILG) and where necessary by removing obstacles to the widespread implementation of successful measures. It has agreed with ‘LTO Nederland' and NAJK on establishing an Incentive Programme for Agro-Biodiversity and Sustainable Soil Management (SPADE). With the European Commission's support, the Netherlands will also promote this approach at European level and share lessons learned with other member states (EU learning network on functional agro-biodiversity). The government will also promote exchanges with countries outside the EU.

There is also a direct relationship between the functional use of ecosystems and other priorities in the policy programme. The sustainable use of ecosystem services cannot be seen in isolation from the optimal functioning of ecological networks. Many species in natural areas depend directly or indirectly on man-made landscapes and how they are managed. Green-blue veining, such as banks of ditches, hedges and other landscape elements, can also be developed and managed in a way that satisfies the wishes of the agriculture sector, for example natural prevention of diseases. For the same reason, landscape restoration, as proposed in ‘Deltaplan Nederland weer mooi' [Delta Plan to Restore the Netherlands Beauty] drawn up by the Vereniging Nederlands Cultuurlandschap [Dutch Cultural Landscape Association], also deserves a boost. The social cost-benefit analyses mentioned earlier also show that it is usually not the investors that enjoy the benefits but frequently other parties in the area. This imbalance needs to be addressed.