Realisation of the national ecological network – land acquisition and conversion, 1990–2022

The area of acquired land has gradually increased since 1990

Existing nature conservation areas are being expanded and linked together through the acquisition of agricultural land, which is then converted to new nature, to form a network of natural areas: the national ecological network (NEN) In 2022, 5,886 ha of agricultural land within the NEN became available for conversion to nature. This means that the area of acquired land (including land where the designated land use has been changed to nature) increased to more than 123,000 ha on 1 January 2023.

Since 2015 the provincial governments no longer report separate figures for change of designated land use, but include these areas within the total area of land acquired for nature. A change of designated land use means that this land remains in private ownership and the conversion to new nature is called ‘self-realisation’, or private conservation management. This land is designated for nature conservation (under the planning legislation in legally binding local land use plans or by notarial instrument imposing an obligation that runs with the land) and financial compensation is provided for the reduction in the value of the land in question under a dedicated subsidy scheme. The provinces originally had high expectations for expanding the NEN through self-realisation by private landowners, in which farmers and private landowners would create new nature on their land. In practice, farmers have been less willing to do this than expected and so many provinces have switched back to a strategy of land acquisition, and even expropriation (Kuindersma et al., 2020).

Rate of conversion to new nature slowly levelling off

As agreed in the Nature Pact (EZ, 2013), the provinces aim to convert at least 80,000 ha of land to nature in the period 2011–2027 to complete the NEN. In 2022 a total of 1,944 ha were converted to nature, bringing the total amount of new nature created since 2011 to almost 49,000 ha (IPO & LNV 2023). More progress is being made than in previous years, but it is still insufficient to achieve the target in 2027. If progress continues at the same rate as over the last four years, the conversion of the full 80,000 ha to nature is not expected to be completed until around 2036. According to the provinces, in the years immediately following the revision of nature policy in 2011 the conversion of land to nature progressed rapidly because much land had already been acquired before 2011. It is expected that acquiring land and changing the designated use of private land for the purpose of creating new nature will become more difficult in the coming years, because it is dependent on the goodwill and cooperation of landowners (PBL & WUR 2017, 2020). The rate of progress must be speeded up to achieve the target of 80,000 ha new nature by the end of 2027. To this end, at the end of 2021 the provinces established a task force with the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality to ‘accelerate conversion of the residual target for additional nature’.

Each year the provinces make small corrections to the recorded area of acquired and converted nature conservation areas. This is necessary because of the complexity of accurately registering detailed geoinformation. In 2021, only 1,247 ha of the originally recorded 1,922 ha of new nature finally counted towards the 80,000 ha target for new nature because a correction to the data for the province of Limburg resulted in a downward adjustment of 675 ha. In 2002 and 2006 there were further, relatively large data corrections resulting in a downward adjustment of the area of acquired and converted land by thousands of hectares (see two dips in 2002 and 2006 for conversion to new nature). At the time, the ‘baseline survey’ project showed that some of the converted land did not fully meet the requirements of the target natural habitats. These areas were therefore no longer registered as ‘converted’. 

Changes to the national ecological network policy

The policy for the NEN dates from 1990. In 1990 the national government estimated that the area of existing natural and semi-natural habitat in the NEN was 450,000 ha (LNV 1990). At that time, the additional area to be realised by 2018 was about 250,000 ha. This was divided between new nature (approx. 100,000 ha of nature reserves and 50,000 ha of habitat creation) and agri-environment schemes, or farmland conservation management (approx. 100,000 hectares). The new objectives for the conservation and improvement of nature in the Netherlands for the period to 2027 are set out in the Nature Pact, which was prepared jointly by the national government and the provincial governments (EZ, 2013). This states that between 2011 and 2027 the provinces will convert a minimum of 80,000 ha of land to nature for the realisation of the NEN. To convert 80,000 hectares of farmland or other land to nature
the provinces still had to acquire or designate 40,000 hectares of farmland at the introduction of the Nature Pact in 2011 (IPO 2015).

The provinces have delineated the boundaries of the NEN that is protected under the planning legislation. However, the NEN as delineated on the map has not been fully realised. According to the ninth progress report on nature, on 1 January 2023, the total area of nature within the NEN boundaries was almost 704,000 ha. Not all of the land within the current boundaries of the NEN will be converted to nature; a small area is still formally a search area for new nature and a small area will be subject to agri-environment management. The minimum area of natural and semi-natural habitat within the NEN on 31 December 2027 is expected to be approx. 735,000 ha (IPO & LNV 2022). 

National ecological network has been the cornerstone of nature policy for 30 years

The restoration and conservation of biodiversity is an important national and international policy objective under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the EU Birds and Habitats Directives and the EU Biodiversity Strategy. Creating and managing a coherent national ecological network is one of the main strategies of Dutch nature policy.

The national ecological network is a network of existing natural and semi-natural habitats and agricultural land to be converted to nature. It was introduced in the 1990 Nature Policy Plan by the then Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries. The aim of this network is to halt the decline in the area of natural and semi-natural habitat and the loss of biodiversity, to maintain the existing natural areas and biodiversity, and to improve biodiversity through the creation of a coherent network of protected areas. This is being achieved by increasing the size of natural areas and linking them together by acquiring the surrounding agricultural land and agricultural enclaves, followed by conversion to new nature and conservation management. Large contiguous natural areas are also favourable for improving water quality and environmental conditions.