Het stimuleren van ondernemen met natuur: handelingsopties voor de overheid

Resúmen

In its policy vision on nature, ‘The Natural Way Forward’ (2014), the government calls on entrepreneurs to take agreater interest in nature. The government’s ambition is for nature to be taken into account in all actions and decisions,including those by entrepreneurs. This is called ‘nature-inclusive enterprise’. The key research question in this report iswhich policy measures can be introduced to stimulate nature-inclusive enterprise. The answer to this question isdetermined in part by the interplay between public and private tasks and responsibilities for nature. A second questionis how the costs of nature-inclusive enterprise should be divided between the private and public sectors. Interviews with15 stakeholders revealed a number of issues and requirements that would help to roll out the concept of ‘natureinclusiveenterprise’ further. For example, there is a need for room to experiment, within clearly defined limits, to allowentrepreneurs to experience the value of nature-inclusive enterprise and how it can be put into practice. There is afeeling that the situation is somewhat arbitrary at the moment because of differences in the procedures, particularlytheir length, between municipalities and provinces. For land acquisition, landscape works and prefinancing, therespondents felt the need for an intermediary organisation like the former Government Service for Land and WaterManagement (DLG). In addition, entrepreneurs are in need of ecological expertise as well as ‘solutions’ to the high priceof land, which frustrates nature-inclusive farming. The importance of an area-based approach was also raised. Finally,nature-inclusive enterprise often implies multifunctional land use, but this tends to conflict with the nature conservationlegislation, which is geared more to protection. Although the term ‘nature-inclusive enterprise’ reflects the underlyingprivate sector interest, government still has an essential role to play. For one thing, nature-inclusive enterprise is stillpartly financed with public money, for example via grants and tax exemptions. The study also indicates that while thisgovernment intervention is welcomed, there is also a desire for certainty. When can nature be integrated into thebusiness case and when should it be supported by the public sector? A new balance between public and privateinvolvement in nature conservation has not yet been found.