The intended cuts on the national parks will have a great impact in Drenthe. That says Mathijs ter Bork, director of IVN Natuursuducatie Noord. He is seriously worried.
But not just because of the scrapping of nature education for thousands of children. According to him, the cooperation between entrepreneurs, farmers and residents is also affected.
Ter Bork is stunned about the plans in the Spring Memorandum: stopping the financial contribution to the national parks. It concerns almost 24 million euros, spread over five years. “And that is very strange. Research has just shown that each park yields around 70 million euros in value per year.” As an example he mentions the campsite, the hospitality industry, but also forestry.
The plans still have to be treated by the First and Lower House. The national parks have started a petition against the cutback, with the hope that policy makers will repent.
The cuts make up the plans of IVN. “It means that from 2026, information and education are reversed,” says Ter Bork. IVN has been providing those tasks for the National Parks since 1989. In concrete terms, it means that there is no longer any nature education for school classes.
The support for volunteers falls away, as well as the project Hospitable Drenthe. The latter is a local course for recreation entrepreneurs, who thereby gain knowledge about nature and landscape so that they can properly inform their guests again.
Ter Bork emphasizes that the cooperation and the connection between the various people and organizations with the cutbacks also get a blow. “There are all different companies, residents, nature lovers and tourists in such a national park. They all come together in that area. It is important that people understand what everyone wants. And that you can look at how we can organize it as well as possible for everyone. We do that with the information, among other things. We look for the story that we can tell.”
“There are many conversations, between chairmen of the National Parks, but also between deputies who jointly sent a letter to the Lower House. This is discussed on many tables, we hope that it will yield enough motions and that policy makers themselves see that this is not sensible at all,” Ter Bork said.
Deputy Egbert van Dijk of the province of Drenthe is also involved. He is also worried. “If the financing disappears, then this is at the expense of visibility. Educational programs and training courses stop completely. Together with the Interprovincial Consultation (IPO) and the parks, we will do everything we can to reverse these cuts, also because a collaboration agreement has been concluded by the Ministry of LVVN to show the social value by the Ministry of LVVN.”