Abstract
Due to a growing population, urbanization, industrialization and agriculture, the quality of nature and biodiversity globally has decreased enormously. This also applies to The Netherlands. Habitat banking is a market-based instrument for nature conservation and sustainable development to counteract this decrease. We analyze under which conditions habitat banking can indeed offer possibilities and opportunities for improving biodiversity, nature conservation and sustainable development in The Netherlands. For this, we first identify the shortcomings of mandatory nature compensation in The Netherlands and link them to current innovations in Dutch nature policy. In addition, we investigate three necessary instruments for a successful habitat banking system: (1) a system for nature valuation, (2) a method for creating ecological opportunity maps, and (3) the institutional setting in which habitat banking can be operationalized. We conclude that habitat banking contributes to solving the problems for nature and biodiversity and to sustainable development in The Netherlands, provided that this is primarily addressed (i) in the domain of voluntary nature compensation, (ii) in bottom-up pilots for integrated area development (in this article shortly referred to as area pilots) where the widest possible range of owners and users of these areas is involved, (iii) in a context of participatory decision-making and (iv) learning and experiment en route to social-ecological systems (SESs). To actually realize the added value of habitat banking for The Netherlands, further scientific research is required to collect and analyze empirical data from relevant stakeholders.
Highlights
In recent decades, the quality of nature worldwide has deteriorated sharply due to a growing population, urbanization, industrialization and agriculture [1,2,3,4]
As a consequence of relatively recent budget cuts in nature policy, the available resources in The Netherlands are insufficient to achieve the European biodiversity targets [7]
In view of the substantial decline in nature and biodiversity, this statement calls for measures that can contribute to solutions for nature compensation and sustainable development
Summary
The quality of nature worldwide has deteriorated sharply due to a growing population, urbanization, industrialization and agriculture [1,2,3,4]. (Percentage is relative to the base year 1700 as used by the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving) for its biodiversity assessments (globally and European). PBL uses the base year 1900 [5].) Despite many policy efforts, there has not yet been a steady recovery. The spatial, water and environmental conditions for nature in The Netherlands are not yet sufficient to achieve the nature objectives agreed in Europe [1]. As a consequence of relatively recent budget cuts in nature policy, the available resources (money and land) in The Netherlands are insufficient to achieve the European biodiversity targets [7]. (To illustrate: In the reference year 2010, about 45% of the species in The Netherlands covered by the EU Birds and Habitats Directives were subject to conditions sufficient for sustainable conservation. If nature policy were to remain unchanged, this percentage would decrease further [7].)
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