Soil acidification monitoring in the Netherlands

Abstract

The last decades of the 20th century are characterized by a vast increase in activities developed and measures taken by the authorities to accommodate the fear of environmental problems that boomed since the late 1960s. The growing environmental awareness and the subsequent incorporation of environmental values and arguments in the social discourse and practice has been multifaceted and complex. Within this diverse context, the present study took shape; a shape that reflects the socio-political aspects tied in with environmental attention in general and environmental research in specific. Essential to this study is the increased need for the authorities to monitor the development of the quality of the environment. Policy makers need monitoring systems to identify problems, to list priorities, and to check whether measures taken have the desired effects on environmental quality. For these purposes not only monitoring systems are needed, also reference values for environmental quality are required to judge the values measured within the monitoring setting. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the scientific foundation of environmental quality management in general and that of soil quality and soil acidification monitoring specifically.