ProGeo 2009 - Geoheritage in the Netherlands

A short history of geoheritage and geodiversity in the Netherlands, 1900 - 1998

The first activities aimed at conserving part of the Dutch geoheritage came from individuals who supported the ideas of the biologist Thijsse and the geologist Heimans at the beginning of the 20th century. Because Eli Heimans died very young, he only managed to establish two geological monuments: the Mirdummer cliff, a till exposure in a cliff of the former Suyder Sea (now lake IJsselmeer) and the Heimans quarry, a Devonian sandstone quarry in Limburg.

In the 1960s interest in geoheritage and landscape conservation revived in the then Ministry Culture, Recreation and Social Work (Dutch acronym: CRM). This was part of the worldwide interest at that time in the conservation of ecosystems, but was  mainly promoted by those concerned with the effects of the large-scale land consolidation schemes (ruilverkaveling) levelling-off the land and re-creating new landscapes to enable large-scale agricultural production. It resulted in a national geosite inventory, the Gea-objects of unspoilt and little affected areas by the Ministry of LNV, which was responsible for earth heritage. LNV then decided to focus its policy and consequently funding on biodiversity. Financial shortages made it necessary to make choices and geoheritage funding was cut out of the formation. Earth scientists did not protest. The provinces had to formulate soil-protection policies by order of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (Dutch acronym: VROM). These policy papers also included inventories of geoheritage (geomorphology, geology and soil). Because of the huge problems associated with soil pollution and because no earth scientists were included in the discussions, all the available funding was allocated to remediate soil-pollution.

In 1995, at the request of the government member responsible for earth heritage policy, the professional society of physical geographers, KTFG was asked to become more active and to stimulate and coordinate the appropriate organisations. This led to the establishment of the Platform Aardkundige Waarden (Platform for Geodiversity) in 1998. This development was in line with the EU Aarhus convention to improve public involvement in environmental decision making. A tree year grant was provided by the Ministry of LNV to help start off the organisation. The general government policy changed soon after, and government sponsoring of NGOs was no longer possible, except for organisation that had long-established government ties such as Landschapsbeheer (Foundation for Landscape) and Stichting Natuur en Milieu ( The Netherlands Society for Nature and Environment). The PAW chose to continue its work on a voluntary base. For the developments since 1998 see Geoheritage NL. 

As can be seen from the list of key results of Geoheritage NL the general situation for geoheritage and geodiversity has improved considerably in the past decade. Several provinces and organisations started a policy to employ more earth scientists and initiate geoheritage-related projects. General awareness of the society rose over the years. But in daily practice and in research organisations, geological heritage and geodiversity are given very little attention and funding and results still largely depends on volunteers and voluntary involvement. A limited cooperation of the earth-science community, a lack of earth scientists involved in policy making, a lack of vision, universities working in different research fields and preferably abroad, and different visions of landscape architects and ecologists are among the many problems that need to be resolved within the coming years.