Typical Holland: making a virtue out of necessity. The Markermeeer has been in a bad state for a long time, with too much silt causing severe turbidity and the extinction of animals and plants. Now the environmental organisation "Natuurmonumenten" is receiving 15 million euros from a lottery fund. Together with money from the state, the islands are to be filled with the silt in question and a visitor centre built.
Silt sucker creates new land
True to the saying: "God created the earth and the Dutch created the Netherlands", new land is being reclaimed from the water. This time, however, not for people and companies, but for nature. The material for the artificial islets is obtained from the bottom of the Markermeer using a suction dredger. This will allow new life to grow there again. This will also be the case on the landfill sites. The mixture of marsh, willow forest and sand should provide an ideal environment for migratory birds. But people are not neglected either: a visitor centre on the islands in the Markermeer will provide sailors with information about nature in the area.
In four project phases until 2018
Work is due to start soon, with the first 125 hectares of land to be created in 2015, according to the plan. In the fourth expansion phase, the islands will cover a total area of 490 hectares in 2018. With this project, the Dutch, who are already known for their hydraulic engineering, want to acquire further expertise that will then be exported to similar projects all over the world.
