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Nature
& Environmental Policy Plan (NEPP)  Nature Policy Plan Netherlands Antilles—Executive Summary |
The State of Nature and Environment The state of nature and environment in the Netherlands Antilles urges serious policy actions. The lack of a policy to prevent, reduce and recycle waste in the past has led to a steady growth of the waste volume, whereas the small islands have very little space for waste disposal. Adequate waste water management is essential to ensure healthy coastal waters and to protect the extremely sensitive coral reefs so important to tourism. The oil industry is important for the economy in the Netherlands Antilles. At the same time serious environmental effects of the production and potentially disastrous effects of inadequate transfer and transport of oil products warrants careful attention. Similarly, tourism is of great economic importance to all the islands, but can have serious environmental impacts. Where it is often the natural attractions that are an important motive for tourists to choose the islands of the Netherlands Antilles as a destination, preservation is essential while minimizing adverse environmental and societal impacts. Because of the limited resources of the small islands and the economic and intrinsic value of biodiversity, protection and conservation of nature is a priority. Finally, sustainable energy is a policy priority of several islands from a sustainable and economic point of view. Challenges and bottlenecks Balancing economic, ecologic and social/cultural aspects is crucial for sustainable development. If the ecology—nature and the environment—deteriorates or if socio-cultural values are neglected, the quality of life will directly diminish. Just as important, a decent existence for the whole of the population will not be possible without economic growth. The awareness of these interlinked aspects for sustainable development is not broadly present in the Netherlands Antilles. Environmental policy must be closely coordinated with other policy areas such as public health, spatial planning, industrial development, agriculture and fisheries, and must be clear and transparent. In the present situation economic development and poverty alleviation have the highest priority for the Netherlands Antilles, but sus-tainable development is only possible in combination with sound environment and nature policy. For example, without corals there will be less stay-over tourists and less economic development or a polluted environment and disappearing nature will cause new forms of poverty. To develop and implement policies and to increase the awareness of the importance of nature and environment remains a major challenge for the Nature & Environment Policy Plan. Priorities are well set after surveys, recommendations, and advice on environment and nature in the Netherlands Antilles, published over the preceding years. Legislation and standards are partly in place or in preparation and cooperation with stakeholders, island governments and NGO’s has been developed. Now it is time to set the next steps. Reassessment of the 2001-2005 Multi-Year Plan as well as the preceding period, led to the conclusion that these past years have served to provide a solid foundation for sound environment and nature policy. Inventories, assessments, analyses, policy documents, information materials, regulation & legislation and guidelines have been developed. Although not fully completed in all cases, it is time for a next step, which is to improve the ways to measure and monitor the state of the environment and the progress made in improving, preserving and restoring it. Further indicators, baseline values and targets need to be identified and formulated. Measurement is knowledge, and makes the problems and challenges tangible. It is the only road that leads to effective enforcement of regulations. Objectives of the Nature & Environment Policy Plan The NEPP provides the framework for environmental and nature conservation policy for the coming years. The priority activities are determined by the:
The objectives of the plan address the problems and challenges relating to:
A priority activity of the Nature & Environment Policy Plan is to carry out a detailed overall view of the state of the environment and the level of environmental awareness of the population. In order to better measure and monitor the effects of policy efforts and instruments, a more precise and complete picture of the present situation is needed. This will enable to target the policy efforts more efficiently and provide a better base for long term planning. A scientifically sound and practical study to determine the national state of the environment will be conducted, based on clear terms of reference. In all the policy issues of the NEPP 2004-2007, projects and activities were identified and selected after consultations with the Islands Territories. These activities include developing standards, achieve target levels of waste management, increase the nature conservation, promote energy savings, coordination, education, and public awareness. Implementation Four policy advisors work together to implement the tasks set in this NEP Plan 2004 - 2007. Implementation of this policy plan will be in close cooperation with Central and Island Government departments, NGO’s, private nature conservation organizations, related Dutch ministries, the private sector, the educational sector, the media, and neighborhood organizations. A source of concern is the very limited availability of capacity for the many tasks in the field of environmental and nature conservation. Various islands and NGO’s have difficulties in finding qualified professionals, and already in the present situation there is insufficient capacity to deal with all environmental issues. Budget and financing Taking into account the financial limitations of both the Netherlands Antilles Government and external sources as Dutch development cooperation funds, strict priorities in projects and activities were set. This resulted in an estimated budget for the NEPP of NAƒ 11.2 million for the coming years, which is considered a bare minimum to be able to execute activities and meet the objectives and targets. Where the contribution of the Central Government is calculated at NAƒ 1,5 million, it is anticipated that some NAƒ 9,7 million will come from donor funds. Regarding the Dutch development cooperation funds, the nature and environment plan and the economic program of the Central Government share the available budget for sustainable economic development, and it was agreed upon to set an a-priori division for the available funds of 47 % for nature and environment vs. 53 % for economic development.
Where possible in this Nature & Environment Policy Plan 2004-2007,
output and effect indicators are introduced for each of the priority
themes. In the future more precise effect indicators will be added
to the Plan after the “National Exploration of the State of
the Environment” is executed. The National Exploration of the
State of the Envi-ronment will provide more clear indicators and baseline
data, and better tools to measure developments, as well as monitor
the effects of policy actions.
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