Kees van der LeunMar 7
Dutch farmland has a major water quality problem, in part due to the overload of manure ending up in ditches. Turns out that farmers have found a workaround: in just 7 years, they made 30,000 ditches disappear by filling them up, 1/3 of those illegally.
Bad for biodiversity and water management.
https://www.volkskrant.nl/kijkverder/v/2026/hoe-de-sloten-in-nederland-verdwijnen~v2791210/
Hoe de sloten in Nederland verdwijnen

Jaarlijks verdwijnen duizenden sloten in Nederland, blijkt uit onderzoek van de Volkskrant, en dat gebeurt deels illegaal. Regels om de waterkwaliteit te verbeteren, geven boeren juist een prikkel om sloten dicht te gooien, en gemeenten handhaven nauwelijks. Wie daar kritisch op is, kan soms zelfs op intimidatie rekenen. ‘Als jullie terugkomen, druk ik met een shovel jullie auto in elkaar!’

de Volkskrant
Show threadsherbang

@Sustainable2050 seems that properly enforcing these existing laws would help resolve some of the most difficult problems facing the government.

If enough of these farmers would be forced out of business by following the law, and sold their land, then perhaps that would help reduce some of the nitrogen pollution and land availability pressure?

Don't need new laws, just enforce the ones that already exist?

Mar 7 at 12:16pmWeb