Dealing with nature

The trade off between ecology and economy has become an important issue in the evaluation of planned interventions in the Dutch coast. The complexity of the issue is reflected by the long and difficult national debates that these interventions cause. Both public policy makers and private stakeholders seem to be in need of instruments to support the lengthy decision making process. The aim of this article is to discuss what type of instrument is needed to facilitate the decision making process by addressing the following research questions: (1) Can the way in which stakeholders are dealing with nature in practice, be explained by their basic views on nature? (2) Can trends in public policies be explained by these views on nature? The answers to these two questions are obtained by conducting a survey among public and private parties involved in a case study of a planned intervention and a historical review of policies in the field of nature conservation and coastal zone management. The findings are translated into a description of necessary decision support instruments. In order to explain how stakeholders wish to deal with nature in land use plans, a framework of attitudes towards nature, basic views of Conservation, Development and Coevolution, views on nature in the region and design strategies is used. Both the case study and the historical review reveal that the views of Conservation, Development and Coevolution coexist within Dutch society, but a strong tendency towards the Coevolution view can be discerned. According to the Coevolution view, both society and nature are allowed to change and to inflict change upon each other as long as sustainability prospects are enhanced both for society and nature. Though the Coevolution view is very attractive intellectually, it is still in its infancy and the envisaged policies remain quite vulnerable due to a lack of adequate instruments to internalize the value of nature in economic transactions. Though theoretical concepts, such as socio-economic valuation, are available to facilitate the trade off between ecology and economy, these still lack practical applicability. Even if appropriate decision supportive instruments are developed, society is likely to bounce back to a Conservation approach in its actual decision making, as long as there are no institutional and legal arrangements to ensure their use.