From land acquisition to private nature management: ex ante evaluation of a change in Netherlands' nature policy - Summary: Nature conservation by private landowners
Too little interest in the current scheme
If the policy remains unchanged, the objective of transforming almost 43,000 hectares of agricultural land into nature reserves under private management by 2018 will not be achieved. At the end of 2006, private landowners managed about 4,000 hectares of new nature reserves, and landowners say they are willing to transform another 18,000 hectares of agricultural land by 2018. That would be approximately half the target area of 43,000 hectares.
It could be that landowners’ willingness to participate may become somewhat greater because the tax advantages for private nature conservation have been extended recently – in the Landscape Act (Natuurschoonwet) – and because compensation for the loss in land value has been exempted from income tax. The abolition of land drainage rates for woods and nature reserves is also planned.
Exploratory model studies indicate that private nature conservation could, from an economic point of view, be attractive for pasture farms. Therefore more information and advice – focused specifically on the individual economic situation of farmers – could still increase the general willingness to participate in private nature conservation. Accelerating and simplifying the processing of the applications for the scheme could also have a positive effect.
No cost-saving for the Ministry
For the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, more private nature conservation produces little or no cost-saving. The implementation costs of the policy are relatively high. The fact that compensation for the loss in land value is to be paid over a period of thirty years means that much of the expenditure has been delayed. This will put a greater demand on the budget after 2018 than would have been the case before the turnabout.
Environmental quality requires government direction
Private nature conservation can, in principle, yield the same ecological results as management by official nature conservation organisations. From the applications for scheme packages it appears that the ambitions of private landowners are comparable to those of the official nature conservation organisations. It is not yet clear whether comparable ecological results are achieved in practice, because it is still early days, and because participation in private nature conservation is low. However, the likelihood of achieving the desired ecological results has increased because the Government Service for Land and Water Management (DLG) does check the ecological feasibility of all the development plans that are submitted. Furthermore, some provincial governments set constraints, for example by being cautious about the use of private conservation management in areas that require a coherent system of hydrological management. These constraints increase the chances of achieving the ecological results, so that the effects of the turnabout on achieved biodiversity need not be negative.
In practice, the new policy in favour of private nature conservation requires additional input from the government, because – in comparison with official nature conservation organisations – the private managers form a strongly differentiated group showing considerable differences in practical experience in nature management, ecological knowledge and financial resources.
At the Vollenhoven estate a number of meadows have been put under private nature conservation. In the meadows relief was introduced and the groundwater level was raised. (Photo: Mark van Veen)
