Leveraging Spatial Instruments to Mitigate Agricultural Impacts in Implementing the Water Framework Directive
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2025-08-21
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en
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This thesis investigates the obstacles to effectively deploying spatial instruments to address the impact of agriculture on water quality in the Netherlands, with a focus on the implementation of the \Water Framework Directive (WFD). Using semi-structured interviews with fourteen policymakers from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and the Ministry of Agriculture, complemented by policy document analysis, the research applies the Policy Arrangement Approach and Needham’s legal–spatial framework to explore institutional, legal, and political dynamics.
The findings reveal that the Netherlands possesses a broad set of spatial planning instruments, such as buffer strips, and zoning plans, yet these instruments remain underutilized. The primary barriers are not technical or legal but institutional and political. Fragmented responsibilities between ministries and across governance levels hinder coordinated action, while limited resources at regional levels reduce enforcement capacity. Moreover, water quality struggles to gain political urgency compared to competing issues such as housing, leading to cautious policymaking and reliance on voluntary cooperation rather than binding measures. The study concludes that improving water quality requires stronger national leadership, clearer coordination mechanisms, sufficient resources for local authorities, and discursive shifts framing water as a shared social responsibility.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen