Ten questions about nitrogen

How the Netherlands ended up in this nitrogen crisis and needs to get out of it.
Ten questions about nitrogen This Wednesday, farmers on the Veluwe are protesting against the cabinet's nitrogen plans. How bad does nature stand? And how big is the role of agriculture in this?

1. What does Dutch nature stand for?
wicked. There are several ways to indicate that. For example, the Planning Office for the Living Environment (PBL) brings map the size of the populations of terrestrial plants and animals . Since the year 1700, the average population size ( mean species abundance ) decreased by an estimated 85 percent. In the Netherlands, this decline is a lot greater than in other European countries, where on average it shrank slightly more than half. Another way is to look at the number of endangered species on the Red List . For this, 1,771 of the estimated 45,000 species of animals, plants, fungi, algae and algae found in the Netherlands are followed. Since 1995, about 40 percent of the 1,771 species on the list . The percentage fluctuates slightly over time. After 2005, the number of endangered species decreased somewhat, but after 2015 it increased again. Causes include population growth, urbanization and the disappearance of many nature reserves. Especially since the 1950s, intensified agriculture has played an important role. Land consolidation, monoculture, fertilizer, pesticides and lowering the groundwater level have impoverished rural nature. “The populations of characteristic animal species of the agricultural area have declined on average by more than 50 percent since 1990”, writes the PBL in its last Balance of the Living Environment . In nature reserves in the Netherlands, the decline now seems to be reversed. The following species have been stable for ten, fifteen years, according to the PBL. But in the countryside, nature is very bad.

2. How many nature reserves has the Netherlands?
Since 1990, the Netherlands has been working on a network of nature reserves to preserve and restore nature and biodiversity. There are areas that are only planologically protected and are covered by the Netherlands Nature Network (NNN), formerly called Ecological Main Structure (EHS). And there are areas that are also protected by law, which fall under the European network of nature reserves, Natura 2000. Of this latter category, which is thus more strictly protected against activities that can harm nature, the Netherlands counts 162. In all EU Member States together, more than 27,000 sites covered by the Natura 2000 network. These are designated and protected by the Member States themselves under the European Birds Directive and the Habitats Directive. The share of protected nature in the Netherlands is approximately 26 percent of the area of land and inland waterways (including IJsselmeer), more than the United Nations international target of 17 percent in 2020. For the Natura 2000 sites, this is 15 percent. The quality of nature in those areas is not doing well; it is often below par. Although European countries are obliged to bring or maintain Natura 2000 sites at a so-called favourable conservation status, almost all 162 Dutch areas contain more nitrogen than science believes is good for the survival of flora and fauna — a observation that fights farmers.

3. What does nitrogen do to nature and biodiversity?
Nitrogen has an effect in various ways. A lot of manure is carried out in fields and in that manure contains the nitrogen that an animal has not taken from the feed (cattle absorb 29 percent of nitrogen in feed, pigs 39 percent, chickens 44 percent). The crops in the fields absorb an average of 58 percent of the nitrogen served (via animal manure and also fertilizer). A significant part of the nitrogen in manure flushes to ditches and further to rivers and sea. All those extra nutrients stimulate the growth of algae, including toxic species. Many other species of plants and animals disappear. Sometimes bathing waters have to be closed. Another problem is that nitrogen contains ammonia. Ammonia is a gas that evaporates from manure, especially from stables and land. It enters the air and, depending on wind and rain, can descend again within a few kilometers of the source. This has two effects on nature: fumigation and acidification. The former favors some plants — the species that benefit from high concentrations of nitrogen. For example, it concerns blackberry and elder in forests, dune reed and helmet in dunes, twisty smele on heather. They overgrow other species, which mine it underspit. This way you get impoverished, monotonous landscapes. In the case of acidification, ammonia in the soil is converted via chemical processes. This effect sets in motion a different process: elements such as calcium, magnesium, potassium in the soil dissolve and wash away. Aluminum, often toxic to plants, is also released. For example, the combination of a more acidic soil, washed away elements and a lot of free aluminum inclines the pedigree oak, such as on the Veluwe and in the De Maasduinen National Park in Limburg.

4. Why is nitrogen suddenly such a big administrative problem?
Nitrogen is not a new topic on the political agenda. Since the eighties of the last century, national policy has focused on reducing the manure surplus. Since 1990, measured ammonia emissions in the Netherlands has already fallen from 346 to 124 kilotons per year, according to national government figures. But successive cabinets have put a real approach to nitrogen ahead of them. In 2015, the government introduced the Nitrogen Approach Program (PAS); polluting activities, such as livestock farming and construction projects, were granted a permit with a view to future nitrogen reduction. In May 2019, nitrogen suddenly became a major and acute administrative problem . The Council of State then ruled that the PAS violated European nature conservation rules. The ruling led to a construction shutdown and affected around 18,000 current projects at the time . Since the ruling of the Council of State, the government has been working with exemptions and other structures to allow construction projects to continue, for example. But the only structural solution for nature, economy and society is to emit less nitrogen, says Rutte-IV cabinet. The nitrogen crisis touches on other major problems that the cabinet must solve. The approach is therefore also focused on water quality, soil, climate and biodiversity. Schiphol and the port of Rotterdam making it more sustainable to become climate-neutral. And road traffic, which now also emits a lot of nitrogen, must switch from gasoline to electric driving. Read more: New boom for nitrogen policy: speed reduction on highway is not right