Boerenprotesten (farmers protests)

Furious farmers

Over the last few weeks, I have received quite a lot of questions regarding the farmer’s protests in the Netherlands. My tiny, otherwise peaceful country has been affected by all these famers, enraged by the new nitrogen guidelines set out by the Dutch government. Some of my friends on this platform have asked me whether the protests were as bad as the media portrayed them. I must admit that it is indeed true. Farmers have been trashing the so-called ‘Malieveld’ in The Hague by driving over fences with their tractors and then ploughing the grass. They have also taken their sweet time to get to the ‘Malieveld’, driving on the motorways which created massive traffic jams.  The Dutch farmers are mad, and they have made it very clear that they do not agree with the new guidelines. But what are these guidelines and why are the farmers so angry about them?

Let me start by explaining what started all this, because The Netherlands is usually a country known for its well-organized agricultural system. It used to be that the big building projects and agricultural ‘activities’ that caused distress to the environment were compensated by measures that reduced the emission of other economic activities and the installation of new nature reserves. But then the ‘Raad van State’ (the main advisory body of the Dutch government) ruled that this ‘system’ did not work well enough and that things had to be more eco-friendly. One reason for this is that there is an estimate of six thousand seven hundred to nearly thirteen thousand people each year that die prematurely as a result of air pollution. Another reason is that the biodiversity in vulnerable parts of Dutch nature has been decreased severely due to plants dying and as a consequence of this, birds and insects that eat these plants are also dying.

So, if it is this obvious that nitrogen emission has severe consequences for our society, why are the farmers so upset? The answer is that they work extremely hard for every penny they earn, and now the government is expecting that they invest quite a few of those hard-earned pennies into making their own business more eco-friendly. It can be expected that they are mad about this, after all, they don’t get any government funding to ‘upgrade’ their farms, so it is a relatively big investment.

That is one side of the story. The other one is from the perspective of the people that are concerned about the future of our planet, and specifically the irrevocable damage that is being done to nature and our health at this very moment. They feel like the Dutch agricultural sector is one of the biggest causes of the emission issues and that the new guidelines are not strict enough. They think that in order to make a dent in the nitrogen emission, we need to have even more and stricter rules and that we should maybe change the agricultural sector in its entirety. So, they are not pleased with the new guidelines either but for a whole other reason.

I feel like it is good that even though the guidelines are in a sense futile, they are at least being enforced. This is because the government has also been pressuring other economical branches to reduce their nitrogen emission. And it would be unfair that these other branches, that only cause a small amount of all the emission, should ‘pay’ for the fact that the farmers are too stern and set in their ways to do anything about their emission. So, I think that it is unfair that the farmers are making such a fuzz about something all the other work sectors just have to accept.

Besides the new guidelines that have been enforced on the farmers, Dutch government has also introduced other guidelines. First of all, the lowering of the maximum speed on the motorway from 81 miles per hour to 62 miles per hour between 6 AM and 7 PM. The expected effect of this measure is that during the rush hour the emission rates will be reduced dramatically. Second of all, the government is investing in the protection and recovery of the Dutch eco-system. They do this by increasing the amount of nature reserves and by planting more trees and other greenery. There are more guidelines, but these are the most important ones.

But if there are so many nitrogen-related issues in The Netherlands alone, what is it like in the rest of the world? Sadly, it is not going much better. The year 2019 was a tipping point, what that means, is that in the decade leading up to this year, our society became very aware of the climate issues it was facing and how much it was already affecting nature and our health. The other side of this tipping point is the fact that the decade after 2019 is our one and only chance of averting a massive climate crisis. Because at the rate the global warming is happening, let’s just say no good will come from it. Another issue is the fact that last climate summit of 2019 was a complete flop. Nearly none of the countries that signed the agreement during the 2015 summit in Paris have made the climate goals set during that summit.

Personally, the climate issues scare me. I am scared that the Netherlands will flood when the sea levels rise too high. And I am scared that I will not be able to provide my future children a safe environment to grow up in. I just feel like we should focus less on the welfare of our economy and more on keeping our earth healthy.

My school doesn’t really do much for the climate. And I think that’s a pity. I feel like a lot of children would join in and help if  we would have more awareness and actions being held at school.

I get the farmers. I understand the people working in economics. But please, focus on keeping the earth a safe and healthy place. our economy can suffer a blow, our climate can’t.