ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the way in which tradition and a growing awareness of the need to combat environmental pollution worked to shape the Dutch approach to environmental management, and suggests in what ways the present system of joint regulation is coming under increased pressure. From 1987, attention to the environmental problem grew, helped by the publication and subsequent discussion of the Brundtland Commission's report on sustainable development, and perhaps also due to the decline in the heretofore strong peace movement. The National Environmental Policy Plan established the ambitious objective of 'reversing environmental degradation and achieving sustainable development within one generation'. Environmental policy in the Netherlands has moved from the phase of cleaning up existing damage to the management of environmental quality in order to prevent damaging from occurring. The Netherlands is a small, densely populated country, cut through by a number of large rivers.
