WETLANDS POLICY OF THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT - FAILURE OR SUCCESS

An overview is presented of Dutch wetlands and the perspectives and threats to which they are exposed. The general environmental problems of The Netherlands are reflected in the problems with the preservation of wetlands: deterioriation of water quality is one of the main problems, directly followed by the desiccation of former wet areas. Also splitting up of larger coherent areas into smaller fragments due to infrastructural works does not favour long time existence of complete (eco)systems. The policy of the Dutch government and its different ministries towards the protection of wetlands will be described. The policy to protect the Wadden Sea and which is based on concepts of wise use and sustainability will be presented as an example of Dutch integral environmental policy for wetlands particularly. Our conclusion is that wetlands policy is tardy but successful.