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The nitrogen crisis in the Netherlands (Dutch : stikstofcrisis) is an ecological and legal crisis that has been defined as such since 2019, following a ruling by the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State.
Around 78% of the earth's atmosphere is made up of gaseous nitrogen (N2). This naturally occurring gaseous form is fairly inert and does not pose an environmental problem. At the root of the nitrogen crisis is not N2 but other more reactive nitrogen compounds that are the result of human impact on the nitrogen cycle. In the Netherlands, the soil is burdened by very high deposition rates of reactive nitrogen compounds, in particular ammonia (NH3) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Ammonia is released into the air from animal manure, nitrogen oxides are emitted by internal combustion engines, such as those in motor vehicles, aircraft and industry. Nitrogen compounds from fertilizers used in agriculture are also washed directly into ground water. The presence of nitrogen compounds in large quantities is a form of nutrient pollution and adversely affects the quality of soil, water, air, and nature through the process of eutrophication. [3]
The Netherlands emits more nitrogen compounds per hectare than any other country in the EU by a long way, according to the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research. 61 percent of these nitrogen compounds are produced by agriculture, with intensive livestock farming being the most important source of nitrogen pollution. [4] In a sense, the nitrogen crisis is the successor to the acid rain problem of the 1980s. Acid rain is caused by the deposition of ammonia and nitrogen oxides, but also sulfur dioxide (SO
2). From 1980 to 2020, the emission of sulfur dioxide was reduced by 80%. The emission of nitrogen compounds was also reduced by 50%. The emission of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) has been steadily decreasing ever since 1980. However, the reduction in the emission of ammonia came to a standstill around 2010, the last year of the fourth Balkenende cabinet. [3]
In 2015, the Dutch government under the second Rutte cabinet launched a new program to reduce nitrogen pollution, the Integrated Approach to Nitrogen (Dutch : Programma Aanpak Stikstof , PAS). [3]
When the nitrogen crisis came to a head in 2019, it already had a long history, both legal and ecological. The first European standards were set as early as 1991. European Union member states are obliged to comply with the Habitats Directive, which states that a 'favourable conservation status' must be aimed for in Natura 2000 areas.
In May 2017, the Council of State submitted a number of preliminary questions to the European Court of Justice, [5] which in November 2018 provided a further explanation of the relevant provisions of the Habitats Directive. On 29 May 2019, the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State ruled on this basis that the government's use of the Integrated Approach to Nitrogen (PAS) was invalid when granting permits due to the anticipation of future reductions in nitrogen deposition. [6] As a result, the PAS could no longer be used for granting nitrogen permits in the vicinity of Natura 2000 areas. This ruling led to the immediate suspension of various projects (mainly housing, which aggravated the ongoing Dutch housing shortage), and the government had to urgently seek solutions. [7] Although nitrogen pollution had been an issue for many years, the Council of State's ruling promptly suspended an estimated 18,000 construction projects. [8]
In June 2020, the Advisory Committee on the Nitrogen Problem under former Deputy Prime Minister Johan Remkes published a report titled Niet alles kan overal ("Not Everything Is Possible Everywhere") [9] which recommended reducing nationwide emissions of NH3 and NOx by 50% compared to 2019, for a long-term solution (up to 2030). The NH3 should be reduced even further in certain areas close to natural areas.
As of July 2021, construction projects could proceed without nitrogen testing under the so-called bouwvrijstelling ("construction exemption"). However, this exemption was overturned by the Council of State in November 2022, and a "protracted nitrogen crisis" continues.
In the wake of the 2019 ruling and related government policies, a sizeable farmers' protest movement arose, which saw livestock farmers using tractors to block major Dutch roads and occupy public spaces. [10] [11] [12]
In response to these protests, the agrarian and right-wing populist political party Farmer–Citizen Movement (Dutch : BoerBurgerBeweging, BBB) was founded in October 2019. In the 2021 general election, it argued for the creation of a "Ministry of the Countryside" (Dutch : ministerie van Platteland) located at least 100 kilometers from The Hague [13] and a removal of the ban on neonicotinoids. [14] In addition, the party calls for right-to-farm laws, which would allow for farmers to have more say on expanding their agricultural activities, in response to local opposition to pig and goat farms over public health, environmental and agricultural concerns.
In 2023, the BBB received the most votes in the provincial elections and became the party with the largest number of seats in the Dutch Senate following the Senate election. [15] [16]
The Haber process, also called the Haber–Bosch process, is the main industrial procedure for the production of ammonia. It converts atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3) by a reaction with hydrogen (H2) using finely divided iron metal as a catalyst:
Urea, also called carbamide, is an organic compound with chemical formula CO(NH2)2. This amide has two amino groups joined by a carbonyl functional group. It is thus the simplest amide of carbamic acid.
The nitrogen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which nitrogen is converted into multiple chemical forms as it circulates among atmospheric, terrestrial, and marine ecosystems. The conversion of nitrogen can be carried out through both biological and physical processes. Important processes in the nitrogen cycle include fixation, ammonification, nitrification, and denitrification. The majority of Earth's atmosphere (78%) is atmospheric nitrogen, making it the largest source of nitrogen. However, atmospheric nitrogen has limited availability for biological use, leading to a scarcity of usable nitrogen in many types of ecosystems.
Nitrification is the biological oxidation of ammonia to nitrate via the intermediary nitrite. Nitrification is an important step in the nitrogen cycle in soil. The process of complete nitrification may occur through separate organisms or entirely within one organism, as in comammox bacteria. The transformation of ammonia to nitrite is usually the rate limiting step of nitrification. Nitrification is an aerobic process performed by small groups of autotrophic bacteria and archaea.
Gert-Jan Oplaat is a Dutch politician.
Human impact on the nitrogen cycle is diverse. Agricultural and industrial nitrogen (N) inputs to the environment currently exceed inputs from natural N fixation. As a consequence of anthropogenic inputs, the global nitrogen cycle (Fig. 1) has been significantly altered over the past century. Global atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) mole fractions have increased from a pre-industrial value of ~270 nmol/mol to ~319 nmol/mol in 2005. Human activities account for over one-third of N2O emissions, most of which are due to the agricultural sector. This article is intended to give a brief review of the history of anthropogenic N inputs, and reported impacts of nitrogen inputs on selected terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
The 1999 Gothenburg Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone is a multi-pollutant protocol designed to reduce acidification, eutrophication and ground-level ozone by setting emissions ceilings for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and ammonia to be met by 2010. As of August 2014, the Protocol had been ratified by 26 parties, which includes 25 states and the European Union.
Nico van Breemen is a Dutch soil scientist. He was a professor of pedogenesis at Wageningen University and Research Centre between 1986 and 2004.
Ammonia pollution is pollution by the chemical ammonia (NH3) – a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen which is a byproduct of agriculture and industry. Common forms include air pollution by the ammonia gas emitted by rotting agricultural slurry and fertilizer factories while natural sources include the burning coal mines of Jharia, the caustic Lake Natron and the guano of seabird colonies. Gaseous ammonia reacts with other pollutants in the air to form fine particles of ammonium salts, which affect human breathing. Ammonia gas can also affect the chemistry of the soil on which it settles and will, for example, degrade the conditions required by the sphagnum moss and heathers of peatland.
A series of protests by Dutch livestock farmers, characterised by the use of tractors to block roads and occupy public spaces, have been ongoing since 2019. The protests were initially triggered in October 2019 by a proposal in parliament to halve the country's livestock in an attempt to limit agricultural pollution in the Netherlands, but protesting farmers have frequently told media that they are motivated by a perceived lack of respect for their profession by the Dutch populace, media and politicians. The protests combined several action groups and an amalgamation of larger goals, which included less government regulation for farmers, more air time for pro-farmer sentiments, and more policy to punish Shell and Tata Steel for their part in the emission crisis.
The Farmer–Citizen Movement is an agrarian and right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. It is headquartered in Deventer, Overijssel. The current party leader is founder Caroline van der Plas, who has led it since its creation in 2019.
Derk Geertsz Boswijk is a Dutch politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives since the 2021 general election. A member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), he previously held a seat in the States of Utrecht from 2015 to 2021 and chaired his party's caucus during the last two of those years.
Brabants Landschap, officially Stichting het Noordbrabants Landschap, is one of the 12 provincial landscape foundations in the Netherlands.
The fourth Rutte cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 10 January 2022 until 2 July 2024. The cabinet was a continuation of the third Rutte cabinet and was formed by the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the social liberal Democrats 66 (D66) and the Christian democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and Christian Union (CU) after the election of 2021. The cabinet fell on 7 July 2023, after failing to reach an agreement on separate treatment of refugees fleeing from war. It continued serving as a demissionary cabinet until the Schoof cabinet was sworn in on 2 July 2024.
An election to the Dutch Senate was held on 30 May 2023. The 75 members of the Senate were elected by members of the provincial councils and electoral colleges elected two months earlier in provincial and electoral college elections.
Ilona Maria Lagas-Meijer is a Dutch politician of the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB). She participated in the 2023 Senate election as the Farmer–Citizen Movement's lead candidate, and became the party's parliamentary leader in the Senate. Lagas joined the Farmer–Citizen Movement in 2021 after leaving the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), for which she previously served as a municipal councillor and alderwoman.
Eline C. Vedder-Monaster is a Dutch dairy farmer and politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). Born in Dordrecht, she studied mechanical engineering and started running a dairy farm in Drenthe with her husband after some years at multinational Unilever.
The Dutch manure crisis is an anticipated surge in the surplus of manure in the Netherlands. It is mainly caused by the phasing out of an exemption to the European Union's Nitrates Directive in the years 2023–2025. Because of this manure derogation, Dutch farmers had been allowed to exceed a limit on organic fertilization, intended to protect water resources from nutrient pollution, since 2006.
Femke Marije Wiersma is a Dutch agricultural lobbyist and politician of the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB). She has served as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature in the Schoof cabinet since July 2024. Previously, she was a member of the Provincial Executive of Friesland.
Greenpeace v State of the Netherlands (2025) is a environmental law case heard by the District Court of The Hague related to the government's adherence to nature protection commitments. It was brought by the Dutch branch of Greenpeace against the State of the Netherlands, arguing that the government's efforts to reduce nitrogen emissions were insufficient to adhere to its goals to protect nitrogen-sensitive nature in Natura 2000 reserves. In January 2025, the court ordered the government to take action to make sure 50% of such areas would no longer exceed the critical load for nitrogen deposition by 2030. The government was ordered to pay €10 million to Greenpeace in case it would fail to comply.
Table 5.1: Composition of nitrogen deposition (mol ha−1 year−1) in 2018
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