Netherlands

Country Infos

 
Country Profile Manager:
Sarah Westenburg
BoerenNatuur
swestenburg@boerennatuur.nl

AECM Scheme 2016-2020. ANLb Collective approach delivering habitats

Overview

 

Scheme

A collective of farmers is as a certified partnership of farmers and other managers of agricultural land the beneficiary. A collective applies for the AECM subsidy, which is the area application. No individual farmers can apply for AECM.

They are responsible for creating a habitat and / or improve the quality of the water and ensure cooperation among themselves, with governments and with other partners.

They assists the farmer in its operational management with the organization of the management of an area. This has economic and ecological benefits for the farmer and contributes to sustainability. The farmer can help through various management activities. It is on:

  • open grassland
  • open field
  • dry infrastructure
  • wet infrastructure
  • water

 

Management functions are distinguished such as the creation of foraging areas, or the sharpening or optimizing of reproduction options. One or more management activities are possible within each function.

Herbaceous grassland and wet areas for a good habitat for meadow birds
Cooperation with other stakeholders is encouraged

Location of the scheme

whole country

THe collective cover the whole country. For the AECM the provinces apointed designated areas in which the AECM is eligible based on expected effectiveness. For these areas the collective make management plans and contract the individual farmers to implement the desired management to deliver the habitats.

Duration of the scheme

Since: 2016
Until: 2020, it will continue in the new CAP

Objective(s) of the scheme / project

  • Biodiversity
  • Water quality

Which habitats or species are in the focus of the scheme / project?

  • Habitats (incl. habitats of Fauna-Flora-Habitat-Directive (FFH-D.))
  • Species (incl. species of FFH-D. and Birds Directive (BD))
  • Landscape elements

Based on the habitat directive a list is made including 67 species of which it is presumed that agri-environmental management can provide a substantial contribution to a beneficial state of preservation. The goal ANLb is the preservation and boosting of 67 species based on the habitat directive and can be found in grassland, fields, tall vegetation, ditches and puddles

 

 

Which indicators are used?

  • Habitats (incl FFH and BD)

Habitats are based on the needs of the target species, focussing on nesting, protection and feeding.

Open Grassland: habitats for waders/meadow birds like black tailed godwith

Open field: habitats for skylark, patrich, motague harrier, insects

Wet infrastructure: fish, tods, frogs, insects

Dry infrastructure: bats, tods, insects, birds

By which fund(s) is the scheme / project implemented?

  • Agri Environmental Measures of CAP

How are the incentives (payment levels) calculated?

  • Based on the costs of management actions

Payment calculations for the farmer are based on optimal agriculture production (in a high productive/output system). This is what we call a backdoor payment. The collective can pay an individual farmer less or more when needed.

The payment calculation on habitat level is based on the description of the habitat requirements and constructed out of the farm activity's (management based). 

Is there a top up in case of reaching the goals?

  • No

How many farmers take part in the scheme?

  • More than 2.000

Are there any evaluation results?

  • In preparation

WUR is currently evaluating the system. However there have been several studies to the governance of these systems:

https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/collaborative-governance-arrangements-to-deliver-spatially-coordi

https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/landscape-services-as-boundary-concept-in-landscape-governance-bu

https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/promoting-nature-conservation-by-dutch-farmers-a-governance-persp

Contact person

Remco Schreuder

Rijksdienst Voor Ondernemen (RVO)

remco.schreuder@rvo.nl


Showroom

 

Background

The aim of the scheme is to conserve farmland nature and maintain the farmland landscape. An important role in the scheme is 'BoerenNatuur', the Dutch national organization that represents all farmer collectives in the Netherlands. Their members execute the agri-environmental scheme (AES) at a landscape scale.Within these 40 collectives over 9.000 farmers are actively involved and in total they manage approximately about a 100.000 hectares of farmland. Yearly over 70 million euro is invested agrimanagement. The collectives range in size and management unit. Some of them have landscapes with more open grassland, others with more open fields. The collective do:

  • Administration of farmer participants
  • Digital registration the type of management on the land parcels of the participants (practically speaking: draw management unit on map and link to management activities/package)
  • Reporting of completed management activities from participants during the year
  • Inspection of realization of management activities
  • Preparation of collective claim
  • Preparation of payment justification
  • Payments of farmer participants

System

In 2015 a special edition of the magazine 'Nature, forest & landscape' has been made dedicated to the introduction of the new AECM system. By this link below you can enter the Enlish edition of the magazine:https://vakbladnbl.nl/wp-content/uploads/VNBL_AgriEnvironmManagm_def-1.pdf