Advies regionaal meten en berekenen van stikstof (emissie, concentratie, en depositie) in de lucht

The Dutch Nitrogen Reduction and Nature Improvement Act stipulates that less nitrogen must end up in vulnerable nature conservation areas in the Netherlands. The provinces are responsible for regional policies contributing to achieve the Act’s objectives. In order to be able to make the right decisions for this complicated task, provinces need scientific knowledge – particularly knowledge derived from regional measurements. An advisory committee set up by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature was charged with drawing up a research programme to address provincial knowledge gaps. The advisory committee has now published its recommendations for the programme. The provinces have knowledge gaps in three key areas. The first is how measurements can help monitor nitrogen at the regional level: how much nitrogen does a particular source emit, how does nitrogen spread through the air and how much of it ends up on the soil surface? The second knowledge gap is about how to gain insight into which other substances affect nature, both in air, in water and in the soil. The third relates to gaining insight into the effect of measures to reduce nitrogen emissions. This will make clear which measurements work best. The committee recommends taking a two-stage approach to addressing these knowledge gaps. This approach is designed to allow the provinces to carry out their task as quickly as possible, yet give them sufficient time to develop new knowledge. The first stage is to develop existing knowledge about national models and measurement methods further, so that they can be adapted for regional use. At the same time, ongoing projects to measure and model nitrogen regionally (for example by using sensors) should be continued. The second stage is to test the methods and technologies in these projects and supplement them with new technologies, such as drones and satellites.