If you write about #natuur get lost easily in doom scenarios and bad news. But there are also solutions to turn the tide, I see in my search for how we can make Dutch nature extraordinary again. At a time of crisis, you get in the mood for solutions, I see. Talking about trouble only makes you unhappy. T

I make things worse: there are no ready-made solutions or quick fixes for most of these problems, such as the disappearance of animal and plant species, acidification of the soil or desertification caused by climate change.

They are often slow processes that cause nature to subside. For example, we now find it quite normal that huge surfaces consist of monocultures.
These are fields where one and the same crop is planted. This allows you to produce more and more effectively. A disadvantage: the landscape becomes more susceptible to diseases and external influences such as dryness or extreme wind. But that's been a process of centuries, I discovered when I wrote about land consolidation.

It's all efficient, we produce more food in the Netherlands than we can eat, but find a red butterfly on the farmland, that nature has had to arrange extremely, that you don't just turn back. But the fact that there is no direct way out does not mean that there are no hopeful prospects.

I started in January with the question: “How do we make our nature extraordinary again?” It was a question that eventually led to a search for the opposite: 'How do we return to nature as normal and normal as possible? '

During that search I spoke to ecologists, scientists, entrepreneurs and farmers. None of them denied the problems, but most of them had also thought about solutions for more nature, a healthier farmland and how to break existing patterns. Some solutions are still in their infancy, others have already proven themselves.