Netherlands

% of land, % of marine waters are covered by protected areas.
species and habitats are protected under EU law

Netherlands is a low-lying country of reclaimed polders and the river deltas of the Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt, with the highest point Vaalserberg at 321m occurring in the southern Limburg plateau. with a terrestrial area of close to 37 000km² and a marine areas close to 59 000 km². It is land-locked and bordered by 2 other countries. The highest point is Vaalserberg at 321m. Netherlands has a population of 17.3 million people and a population density of 504 people per km².

Protected areas

% of land

% of marine waters

There are a total of protected areas in Netherlands, Natura 2000 sites - Special Protection Areas (Birds Directive) and Sites of Community Importance (Habitat Directive) - as well as sites designated under national laws.

% of the network is protected only through national laws

% of the network consists solely of Natura 2000 sites

% consist of and overlap between the two.

The average size of protected areas in Europe is lower compared to other regions of the world. This largely reflects the high degree of fragmentation of the land in Europe due to urbanisation, infrastructure and general intensification of land use. At a EU level 50% of protected areas have an area of less than 1 km². The 10 largest marine sites account for 68% of the marine area, while the 10 largest land sites account for 41% of the land area covered by protected areas

Size distribution of Netherlands's land protected areas network

Size distribution of Netherlands's marine protected areas network

Natura 2000 sites in Netherlands cover species and habitats from the nature directives. The number of species and habitats protected in each site varies depending on the location of the site, the biodiversity in the region, the designation being used, and the features the site is being created to protect. For sites there is only 1 feature being protected with sites having more than 20 features.

Protected species

Species protected in Netherlands under EU law are protected under the Habitats Directive and under the Birds Directive. The Habitats Directive has a total of 2 500 species on its list, the Birds Directive has a total of 500 species of wild birds protected.

species protected under EU law in Netherlands

species are unique to Netherlands

species under the Habitats Directive

species under the Birds Directive

Conservation status: Habitats Directive

% of species are considered to be Good

% of species are considered to be Poor

% of species are considered to be Bad

% of species are considered to be Unknown

Conservation Status by Taxa

Protected species composition by Taxa

Protected habitats

Habitats protected in Netherlands under EU law are protected under the Habitats Directive. The Habitats Directive has a total of 233 habitats on its list.

habitats protected under EU law in Netherlands.

Conservation status: Habitats Directive

% of habitats are considered to be Good

% of habitats are considered to be Poor

% of habitats are considered to be Bad

% of habitats are considered to be Unknown

Conservation Status by Group

Habitat composition by Group

Ecosystems

Policy

MAES in Netherlands:

The Dutch Atlas of Natural Capital (ANK) has been launched on September 22 of 2015. All content has now been translated to English. The ANK can be found at http://www.atlasnaturalcapital.nl.Until now, our focus has been on making the data we have available to anyone who wants to make use of it. Now, we move on towards enhancing the applicability of the data. To this end we developed the Netherlands Natural Capital model based on the National Land Cover and Ecosystem Units map.

Green infrastructure in Netherlands:

The Ministry of Economic Affairs is responsible for nature and biodiversity, while the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment is responsible for environmental issues. On 1 January 2017, a new Nature law went into effect, which replaces three previous laws: the Nature conservation law, the Flora and fauna law and the Forestry law. Responsibility for nature restoration and management lies with the provinces, except for large waters and international policy.

National Biodiversity strategy for Netherlands:

To report on progress to the EU 2020 biodiversity strategy, the European Commission extracted relevant information from the EU Member States’ 5^th national reports to the CBD. Of the 5 countries which had not finalized their national reports at the time of the synthesis (26^th of August 2015), Greece, Malta, Portugal and Lithuania provided information to be included in the synthesis.