Nationale Milieuverkenning 2, 1990-2010

Abstract

This second National Environmental Outlook analyses the degree to which the measures of the National Environmental Policy Plan (NEPP) and NEPP+ are sufficient to actually achieve the stated objectives of those plans in 2000 and 2010. These analyses take account of the latest insights from the natural sciences and future expectations in the areas of population growth, economy, energy use, motor traffic and agriculture. NEPP and NEPP+ envisage a discontinuity in the trend of our environmental behaviour. For instance, most pollutants will have to be reduced by 80-90% in 2010. The waste of natural resources will have to be sharply reduced. This environmental Outlook shows that the measures announced up to mid-1991 will be sufficient for an emission reduction of 50-60%. The measures already established will not be sufficient to bring about any fall in the use of energy and raw materials. So it will be necessary to make a further effort in order to achieve the established environmental objectives by 2010. Continuous material growth in production and consumption will have to be associated with continuous supplementary measures in order to stay within the limits set by the environment. These measures will be increasingly expensive and if, within the limited time available, the technological means for adaptation become exhausted, they will compel a fundamental revision of our expectations about the nature and extent of economic growth.<br>