The Netherlands

Basic information

-- Back to overview --

Mechanisms of Vertical Integration

National — sub-national linkages

In the preparation of the Action Programme, the sub-national levels were involved in an in-depth consultation process together with other stakeholders. Generally, though, the process of the Action Programme is very much focused on the national level and the exchange between the different national ministries. There is no separate coordination mechanism for SD between the national and sub-national levels. In sectoral policies, there is a stronger coordination between the political levels, e.g. in environmental policy, transport policy or the Climate Change Strategy.

In the current process of developing a ‘strategic approach’ of SD, the sub-national levels have not been involved.

There was an extensive support programme for LA21 initiatives, but the programme finished some 6-7 years ago. There are, however, some programmes at the sub-national levels that are linked to the national Action Programme:  Firstly, the ‘Learning for SD’ programme (initiated 2003/2004) is important. Although initiated by the national level as mutual-learning process with a focus on a change in society, education and government, there are coordinators of the programme in each of the provinces. Moreover, many provinces developed their own action programmes and are very active. The whole programme is linked to the national Action Programme. Secondly, there is ‘Transition Management’ which is linked to the National Environmental Policy Programme (NEPP 4). It is about bringing change in several SD related topics (e.g. energy, transport, etc) with the involvement of stakeholders. By addressing practical issues in relation to SD. Local authorities play an important role in this programme.

EU linkages

The renewed EU Strategy for Sustainable Development (EU SDS) that was adopted in June 2006 foresees that Member States bi-annually report about how they address the priorities of the EU SDS. The Netherlands have published their first national report on implementing the EU SDS in June 2007.

-- Back to overview --

Mechanisms of Horizontal Integration

Coordination at the national level is addressed by the ‘Contact Persons Group’ (CPO) that is composed of representatives from eight ministries. The CPO meets every three weeks and has the overall responsibility to prepare and implement the SD Action Plan (NSDS).

An additional coordination mechanism for SD policy-making is the monthly meetings of five ministries (environment, economy, transport, agriculture and foreign affairs) that should coordinate the transition process for SD. A number of initiatives should increase policy coherence and horizontal integration:

• Every ministry in its financial statement for the coming years has to explain how it will take account of the different dimensions of SD in preparing and implementing its policies.
• A closer examination of two policy fields (e.g. environmental and economy) should be performed to see if a closer integration creates added value.
• The national government prepared a sustainable impact assessment methodology for major investments and new policy initiatives.

-- Back to overview --

Evaluation and Review

Progress reports on the NSDS are published annually and presented to parliament. The first progress report was prepared in 2004 by the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Finance.

In autumn 2006, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs initiated a peer review of the Dutch NSDS which was partially financed by the European Commission. Germany, Finland and South Africa were selected as peer countries. From each peer country, four experts were invited to the peer review team, representing the government, business, science and NGOs. During the peer review process, several activities were undertaken, including a scoping meeting and interviews with Dutch stakeholders. From 1-5 April 2007, a peer review workshop took place in which the peer review team discussed relevant issues in-depth with more than 80 invited stakeholders. The final peer review report was presented to the Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment on 21 June 2007 and includes 46 recommendations for a new SD framework.

The various steps of the peer review process can be comprehended by following the links below:
General Information
Dutch peer review update June 2007
Dutch peer review update May 2007
Dutch peer review update March 2007
Dutch peer review update January 2007
Dutch peer review update December 2006.

-- Back to overview --

Indicators and Monitoring

Both the SD Action Programme of 2003 and the 2004 progress report do not specify indicators. A list of 32 is included in the report ‘Quality and the future. Sustainability Outlook’ that was presented by the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP) in 2004. However, the Netherlands do not yet have a fixed set of SD indicators.

The full list(s) of indicators as identified by a study commissioned by Eurostat can be downloaded here:

• 'Sustainability Outlook' (2005)

-- Back to overview --

Participation

There is no official National Council on Sustainable Development. The reason for this is that the Netherlands were already applying policy planning procedures involving various governmental and non-governmental actors and agencies long before the NSDS process. At the national level, several existing councils advice the Government on issues related to SD:

The “VROM-Raad” (Netherlands Council of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment) is a multi-stakeholder advisory council, charged with advising Government and Parliament on the main aspects of policy with regard to SD and on other issues relating to housing, spatial planning and environmental management.

RMNO, the independent and multi-stakeholder Dutch Advisory Council for Research on Spatial Planning, Nature and the Environment, has taken an active role in SD. RMNO looks at the knowledge component of policy development, e.g. promoting the use of scientific insights in new policy and channelling the right questions from policy makers to researchers.

For a detailed documentation of all advisory and participatory councils (for SD and/or the environment) in this country, please go to the EEAC website at http://www.eeac-net.org/bodies/netherlands/nl_frame.htm and click on one of the listed institutions.

-- Back to overview --

Sub-national activities

-- Back to overview --

This Country Profile has been last updated on: Wednesday, 28 July 2010

For the sources used in the country profiles, please click here.