Participants
Ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer, Ministry for Housing, Spatial Planning & Environment (VROM)
Maintaining the welfare society needs respect for nature, space and raw materials. To keep the environment liveable - not only for ourselves but for future generations as well - the Ministry of VROM works to find creative and sustainable solutions for improving the living environment of this country in close co-operation with various international and domestic participants. The Ministry operates in three major areas: living space, housing and environment. An additional task is to plan, to conduct and to supervise the building of projects in government housing.
A recent principle of the Dutch government is to spend more money on environmental protection in order to compensate the negative effect of ongoing economic growth. The environmental policy of the Netherlands currently addresses the following themes: climate change, acidification, eutrophication, toxic and hazardous substances, contaminated land, waste disposal, disturbance, groundwater depletion.
Information and communication play an important role alongside legislation and financial incentives in changing people's attitude and behaviour. The purpose of communication is often to aid consultation, to create public support and/or to promote participation.
Environment in international dimension
The international dimension of environmental protection is gaining a prominent role. The Netherlands is trying to reduce the rate of correlation between pollution and economic growth. It sees the integration of the environment policy in sectors such as agriculture, transport and energy supply as an important instrument for this purpose.
The Directorate General (DG) for the Environment is amongst others funding the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). Objects for research are climate change, energy consumption, water soil and air quality, biodiversity, hazardous chemicals, social perceptions and behaviour for the environment, water management, (sustainable) agriculture, local environmental quality, risk management.
Further information can be found on the VROM Science and research homepage.