Samenvatting

The current poor conservation status of Dutch nature is a result of human activities and is therefore characteristic of the era of the Anthropocene in which we now live. As a result of climate change, desiccation and a surplus of nitrogen and other environmental problems, the survival of many habitats and plants in the EU and in the Netherlands is at stake. Recent scientific research shows that many habitats and plants are in an unfavorable conservation status. Biodiversity is under great pressure. In almost all cases, the declining biodiversity can primarily be traced back to human activities and the consequences of these activities for nature. The EU Habitats Directive and the Dutch Nature Conservation Act provide a legal system that obliges the protection of all wild habitats and plants. Although the objective of both regulations suggests otherwise, the protection of nature in the application of provisions from the Dutch Nature Conservation Act is not an intrinsic objective. The extent to which habitats and plants are protected is linked to human – often economic – interests. It is this ambivalence in existing laws and regulations – the human perspective – that makes it possible to ‘disable’ rules that are precisely intended to preserve habitat types and plants relatively easily. As a result, environmental problems caused by humans are not or not completely resolved. Remarkably enough, the design and application of current national and international nature conservation law contributes to the undisturbed continuation of the Anthropocene era in which we live.