News item | 28-04-2026 | 09:00
Essen’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature (LVVN) has officially granted the Hollandse Duinen National Park the status of a national park. This gives the area a recognized quality label and more opportunities for collaboration and financing of nature and area development. The 22nd Dutch national park runs from Hoek van Holland to Hillegom and covers more than 18,000 hectares. It consists of a varied landscape of dunes, beaches, forests, parks, peat meadows, bulb fields and urban areas. More than 7,000 species of plants and animals live in the area.
Minister of LVVN: The Dutch Dunes are a unique area where nature, city and coast come together. With this status we strengthen the cooperation that is already underway here and the area will receive a recognizable international label. National parks are something we can be proud of in the Netherlands. Visitors now walk here in an official national park, where we work together to preserve and strengthen nature.
National park as a strong and recognizable label
With the status, Hollandse Duinen becomes part of the network of national parks. This label is used internationally for areas with special natural and landscape values and helps to make them more visible and experienceable for a wide audience.
National parks are areas where nature and landscape are central, and where there is room for recreation without damaging the vulnerable nature. The parks work together on the National Parks policy program 2024–2030. The government has made €30 million available for this purpose.
More opportunities for projects and collaboration
More than sixty partners work together in the Hollandse Duinen National Park, including municipalities, provinces, water boards, nature organizations and entrepreneurs. The collaboration focuses on strengthening the area and making it future-proof. This is already happening in projects such as Van Zee tot Zweth, the Noordrand Wassenaar and Mient Kooltuin, where nature development, landscape and recreation come together.
