As part of a European study organised by BirdLife International, LEI Wageningen UR has calculated the management and recovery costs of the Natura 2000 sites in the Netherlands. Until 2020, around €2 billion will be needed to achieve the agreed conservation objectives. Of this, around 20% is required for daily management and 80% for recovery of nature sites which are generally in a poor state.
The Netherlands may fund some of these costs from various European funds, Government resources and provincial resources. According to an initial estimate, €1 billion is available until 2013, mainly from Government and provinces. In total, around €100 million will be available from European funds and around €400 million from Government resources. Provincial resources, mainly ILG funds, could contribute over €500 million to Natura 2000. The study carried out for Vogelbescherming Nederland (BirdLife in the Netherlands) also reveals a lack of sufficient ‘labelling’ of funds for Natura 2000.
Report 2009-073 Costs of and public funds for Natura 2000 in the Netherlands