Gelderland province pioneers nitrogen reduction zones in Netherlands
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Gelderland province in the Netherlands will reduce nitrogen emissions around vulnerable nature areas by implementing “nitrogen zones.”
It is the first province to establish firm rules for these buffer zones, creating areas up to 500 meters wide around the Veluwe and three other sensitive locations. Within these zones, authorities will enforce strict rules this year, including prohibiting new livestock farms.
Additional regulations, such as reduced gas consumption by businesses, mandatory barn upgrades, and a ban on artificial fertilizer, will take effect from 2030 to 2035. The Gelderland measures supplement national nitrogen plans still to come. If national regulations become more extensive than Gelderland’s policies, the national rules will prevail. The province’s decision followed a lengthy debate within the Provincial States, where the BBB party was internally divided over the proposal from their own representative, Ans Mol.
Despite concerns about the policy’s impact on farmers, a majority of the Provincial States voted to include the measures in the new environmental regulations. The zones will also encompass estates near Brummen and the nature areas of Bekendellen and Willinks Weust.
