News Nitrogen
'New nitrogen crisis that does not include the current one'
There is a threat of 'a new nitrogen crisis that dwarfs the current one'. Bert-Jan Ruissen, member of the European Parliament on behalf of the SGP, warns against this. He is talking about the European nature restoration regulation which stems from the Biodiversity Strategy and the Farm-to-Fork Strategy and which is currently on the plate of the European Parliament. "We are heading for a hot summer," predicts Ruissen.
"If this regulation is adopted, we will have to deal with additional nature tasks, also outside Natura 2000. A so-called 'deterioration ban' would also apply there," said Ruissen during an SGP conference on food security that was held last Friday, January 20 in Wells.
10% area out of production
"Farmers will have to take 10% of their area out of production", the politician refers to the objective that "landscape elements with great diversity" should cover at least 10% of the agricultural area of the European Union. According to the draft regulation, this means that this 10% of existing agricultural land may not be used for productive agriculture (including grazing or fodder production) and may not be treated with fertilizers or pesticides. What is allowed, for example, is fruit-bearing trees in a food forest, provided that 'the harvest only takes place at times when biodiversity is not threatened'.
If the European Commission's plans go ahead, the Netherlands must also designate habitats for species. Ruissen: "Habitat types will have to be restored and we will have to go back seventy years in time to see what habitats we had in the Netherlands at the time. That must then be submitted to the Commission for approval and we know how that works: if the Commission If you don't think it's ambitious enough, it will be sent back."
'It all sounds wonderful'
"And that should be the basis for the nature recovery plans. It all sounds wonderful, of course, but I know one thing for sure: if we do this, we will end up in a new nitrogen crisis, which will dwarf the current one." Within the European Parliament there is a lot of opposition to the plans as they are now. Ruissen predicts: "It will be an exciting battle. We are going to have a hot summer."
Linda van Eekeres
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