According to the European Commission, the Netherlands is not sufficiently complying with its obligations under the European Birds Directive. The number of grassland birds, including the national bird, the black-tailed godwit, has been declining for years, despite subsidies and efforts to change the situation. In half a century, the number of godwit has fallen from 120,000 to less than 25,000 breeding pairs.
The Commission is therefore launching an infringement procedure, a kind of “non-compliance notice” to which politicians in The Hague must now respond. If the Dutch government’s response does not reassure Brussels, concrete legal proceedings could arise before the European Court.
The problem: agricultural intensification
Vogelbescherming Nederland welcomes this first formal step. The organisation lodged a complaint with the European Commission in 2016, claiming that the Netherlands was already in breach of its international obligations to protect grassland birds and their habitats. “Since then, the situation has only worsened,” says Amadea Boneschansker, spokesperson for Bird Protection.
The big problem for grassland birds is the intensification of agriculture, says Bird Protection. There are too few varied grasslands with a high enough water level to support the numbers of grassland birds such as godwit and lapwing.
On the initiative of former Minister Pieter Winsemius, Bird Protection has already drawn up a “Black-tailed Godwit Attack Plan”. This provides large contiguous areas for meadow birds, with sufficient herb-rich grassland and a higher water table. Former Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten initially set aside 5 million euros for this attack plan in 2021.
The initiator Winsemius said before Fidelity This is very little, but real and substantial support is not forthcoming due to disputes between the government and the provinces. A 68 million euro fund in Brussels for the protection of grassland birds will only be available when the government and the provinces present a good plan. It is still unclear what the current cabinet is allocating to grassland bird policy.
serious sign
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Safety and Nature confirms receipt of the letter from Brussels and will consider a response, a spokesperson said. “We are already doing a lot, for example through the provinces that can provide grants for the management of nature and the agricultural landscape to agricultural collectives.” Interestingly, the spokesperson also mentions the attack plan of Winsemius and Bird Protection as one of the measures in progress.
An infringement procedure is a serious signal from Brussels. Such procedures were launched against the Netherlands 67 times between 2010 and 2020, making it a mid-ranking European player during that period. Before the Commission takes such a formal step, many informal consultations take place, but the Court of Auditors concluded last year, based on a study of such informal procedures, that the Netherlands has learned relatively little from them.
At Bird Protection Netherlands, the door is open to consultation with the ministry, says spokesman Boneschansker. “We would like to think about what more can be done to protect grassland birds, as required by the European guidelines. But in any case it is clear that these solutions must be conceived together with farmers. Grassland birds need farmers, but these farmers need the certainty that the government will support them in taking long-term measures for nature.”
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