Biodiversity threatened by industry
Once a vast expanse where many species flourished thanks to a diversity of landscapes, from the Zeeland delta to long coastal dunes, the Netherlands is now experiencing a decline in its flora and fauna. The country is renowned for its wide range of bird species, a delight for birdwatchers. For a territory so drastically altered by man, it's hardly surprising that biodiversity has been impacted. Almost 10% of the species in the area have been introduced. As the Netherlands became increasingly industrialized, living creatures became rarer and rarer, not least because of the intensive use of pesticides and herbicides.
Yet, once again, nature has shown a remarkable ability to adapt. Large cities like Amsterdam, with its many canals, clay soil and surrounding pastures, still see many species living alongside their inhabitants. The capital region alone is home to 10,000 animal species: a quarter of the country's total! Visitors may be lucky enough to come across foxes, voles, red squirrels, butterflies and bats, all without even having to go to Artis-Zoo! For the lucky ones, seals can sometimes venture into the canals, although this is a rare occurrence.
The natural areas of the Netherlands
Despite the relatively small size of its territory, the Netherlands boasts 20 national parks, ranging from long stretches of lagoon to expanses of grassland and even near-desert areas. Oosterschelde is by far the largest, covering 36,000 hectares. With its arm of water separated from the sea by a dam, it's home to a rich marine life, a delight for divers.
But it's perhaps De Hoge Veluwe National Park, in the province of Gelderland, that offers the most lunar landscapes. It can be reached in just over an hour from Amsterdam! Here, amid thick vegetation, 50 km of sand stretches as far as the eye can see. This desert is the result of a drought coupled with a storm just over a century ago.
At the northern tip of the country lies one of the world's most important birding areas: the Wadden Islands. The landscape, punctuated by some fifty islands shared with Denmark, changes completely with the tides. Only five of the islands are Dutch: Texel, Vlieland, Terschelling, Schiermonnikoog and Ameland.
Although not a protected area, it's hard to talk about Dutch nature without mentioning Keukenhof, the world's largest flower park. It boasts 7 million flower bulbs and 800 varieties of tulips, which come into bloom every spring, the only time the park is open.
Innovation in the face of the plastic problem
With a territory that had to be completely remodeled to accommodate new populations, the Dutch have demonstrated their ingenuity. So, while the Dutch are already religiously practicing selective sorting, citizen initiatives and start-up innovations are multiplying to meet the waste challenge. Take, for example, the Waste Sharks, aquatic drones capable of collecting up to 500 kilos of waste in port areas.
Opposite the Waste Sharks shark is Plastic Whale. For the past eight years, this company has been offering cruises on recycled plastic boats, inviting customers to go fishing for plastic waste along the way. The waste has recently been upcycled by the Vepa company, to become high-end furniture. The company has caught 60,000 plastic bottles. Given its success, the company is even considering exporting to India and Indonesia.
And let's not forget Recycled Park, a floating garden in the middle of Rotterdam, made entirely from plastic recovered from the water. The island is even capable of recovering waste floating in the Meuse, before it reaches the sea. The idea is to put waste to good use, making it sustainable, as in the case of PlasticRoad, the bicycle path designed entirely from plastic waste (the equivalent of 218,000 cups), inaugurated in Zwolle in 2017, a world first!
Bad air pollution students
The country is the sixth largest producer of greenhouse gases in the European Union. And it ranks fifteenth among the most densely populated countries, ahead of India! Particularly in large cities such as Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague, air pollution reaches dizzying levels, exceeding the standards set by the European Union. One of the reasons for the Netherlands' high levels of air pollution is its colossal livestock population. With 100 million cows, chickens and pigs, it is the EU's biggest meat exporter. But intensive livestock farming also means nitrogen, which not only pollutes the air, but also waterways and soil. The damage is so extensive that entire hectares of land have been decimated. Two thirds of Natura 2000 areas exceed the critical threshold for nitrogen inputs. Such is the case of the Otterlo forest, where 70% of trees have succumbed to nitrogen-induced soil acidification. But the Netherlands intends to reverse the trend, by reducing its livestock by 30%. The government has already committed 25 billion euros to this goal, which aims to halve nitrogen emissions by 2035. However, these targets are being met with opposition from farmers, who are leading the fightback with high-profile actions because they feel that the government is not listening to them, and are demanding greater compensation for this environmentalist shift by the public authorities.
The ecology of the tulip
Being the world's florist isn't exactly sustainable. It's the tulip, in particular, that the Netherlands produces: a crop richer in pesticides than any other in the country. Ironically, though, beyond tulips and a few other species, the Netherlands imports most of its flowers. In fact, they come mainly from Kenya, Ethiopia, Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica. These countries not only have a mild climate, which makes for less energy-intensive cultivation, but their labor costs are considerably lower than in the Netherlands, making them extremely competitive. So why is the Netherlands still the world's biggest exporter of flowers? Because imported flowers are immediately re-exported. In fact, 9 out of 10 foreign flowers have passed through FloraHolland, the flower auction giant. This energy-intensive process could soon even apply to the famous tulips that adorn every postcard in the country. There are already fears that the mild winters caused by global warming will prevent the bulbous plant from flowering. Unfortunately, being the world's florist is not without its drawbacks: water pumped in large quantities, overexploited soils, exposure to pesticides..
A historic trial
When you're one of the countries most at risk from rising sea levels, you'd expect drastic measures against climate change. At least, that's what the Dutch, represented here by the Urgenda association and its 886 plaintiffs, are demanding, so much so that they took the state to court for climate inaction. Five years and two appeals later, the verdict is in: the Court of Appeal in The Hague condemned the state in 2018 for climate inaction. The non-binding ruling calls for a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. The mission was a narrow success: by the deadline, the Netherlands had cut greenhouse gases by 25.5%. In particular, the 80% reduction in emissions from coal-fired power stations helped to achieve this target, although we mustn't forget that the Covid-19 crisis, which brought the country to a standstill for several months, gave a small boost.
