News item | 24-09-2025 | 17:35
Staatsbosbeheer offers Defense more room. He needs the armed forces to train and train soldiers, reports the previously published National Room for Defense program (NPRD). With this, nature in the Netherlands must be strengthened at the same time. To get this done, both organizations today signed a letter of intent with Radio Kootwijk.
They will work together in 3 areas. For example, Staatsbosbeheer can sell land to Defense (and nature compensate somewhere else). Staatsbosbeheer also wants to design defense areas and possibly manage them. Furthermore, both parties can share knowledge in the field of nature management and biodiversity to improve nature.
“This collaboration shows how two government organizations can reinforce each other for the public interest,” said general director of Staatsbosbeheer Boudewijn Revis. “By smartly deploying our expertise in nature management and our extensive land ownership, we can help defense with their space issue while at the same time we strengthen nature.”
State Secretary for Defense Gijs Gardman emphasizes the importance of this new approach: “By collaborating with Staatsbosbeheer, we can better fulfill our defense tasks and contribute to a sustainable future for the Netherlands, in which safety and nature go hand in hand.”
The organizations now work out the plans first. They hope to conclude a definitive agreement in the future.