“Why can’t you swim along the rivers in the Netherlands? Shouldn’t we as citizens reclaim that?” It is a cry from the heart of river expert Bas Roels of the World Wildlife Fund, one of the thirteen parties that in a manifesto on Wednesday called on the Dutch government to make more work on nature along the rivers.
Roels walks over a wobbly bridge in the De Stadswaard nature reserve in Nijmegen, where what should happen throughout the Netherlands has happened: the construction of secondary channels along the great river, in this case the Waal, tributaries that flow along with it that not only give nature a great boost, but also serve recreation. Roels: “Why don’t we facilitate swimming in the rivers or side channels in the Netherlands? Build beaches. Make sure people can have a picnic there.”
The organizations present the manifesto in the months leading up to a final decision by, presumably, an outgoing cabinet on a program that has been in existence for three years, the Integrated River Management (IRM). According to the government, this should lead to an “attractive river area” in the coming decades with an “optimal balance between high water safety, nature and water quality, freshwater availability and navigability”.
The government, provinces, water boards and municipalities work together in the program. “But that program actually leads nowhere,” says Roels. “People are busy with shipping and raising dikes as cheaply as possible, without thinking about nature and the living environment.”
A “missed opportunity”, the organizations say in the manifesto. More attention to nature, living environment and recreation leads to a river landscape that is actually good for everyone, the organizations say: including shipping and water safety. “We are convinced that there is a golden combination, that nature and quality of life do not have to suffer from measures for water safety and navigability, on the contrary,” the manifesto says.
Program manager Bart Beekers of Ark Rewilding Netherlands, one of the organizations behind the manifesto: “If we opt for this quality improvement, the Netherlands will become much richer. Then you not only bring back many species of plants and animals, but you also make people from the cities, like here in Nijmegen, happy.”
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The Netherlands must “make room” for “ecologically steering processes”, according to the manifesto. Because where that space is available, such as here in the De Gelderse Poort nature reserve and along the Grensmaas, “we have been able to see that nature’s ability to recover is phenomenal. Secondary channels should be constructed along the major rivers. This serves water safety and also the navigability of the rivers, which are now only eroding. Beekers: “The bottom of the rivers drops by two and a half centimeters every year. This causes the floodplains and areas within the dike to dry out. That bottom has to be raised another meter. Then you get more exchange of water and sediment with the side channels, and exchange of flora and fauna.” Species such as barbel, current mussels, stoneweed vegetation and crab clams are given more opportunities.
Not just raked parks
Bas Roels of the World Wildlife Fund: “There is a risk that the measures that are now being devised for climate adaptation will damage nature and the quality of life.” Bart Beekers: “That would be disastrous.” 23,000 hectares of river nature have been created in thirty years, and that should at least double as far as the thirteen organizations are concerned.
The ANWB is also one of the organizations that drew up the manifesto. The population is growing and in fact, says ANWB regional manager Janique Huijbregts, an area as large as the current Veluwe would need to be added to provide all residents of the Netherlands with sufficient green recreation. “The average city dweller has 80 percent less nature than about a hundred years ago,” she says.
The ANWB emphatically advocates wild nature. Huijbregts: “People don’t just like tidy parks and day recreation where you can get an ice cream and put down your towel.” The walkers look around and see a kingfisher. Bas Roels: “This leaves you wanting more.”