The Monitoring Programme for the Natural Environment team designs, implements, and revises the Monitoring Programme for the Natural Environment and produces analyses and reports for this purpose. Through the programme, we monitor the natural environment (“the abiotic environment”) at the regional level in Flanders. The programme aims to determine and monitor the status and trends of environmental pressures in Natura 2000 habitats and regionally important biotopes at the regional level in Flanders. Various environmental pressures, such as eutrophication, acidification, desiccation, pollution, and climate change, can have a negative impact on the quality of nature. They significantly hinder or threaten the intended favorable condition of habitat types. Through the programme, we provide a coherent overview of the various environmental pressures on nature in Flanders by monitoring environmental variables using spatially balanced, random samples.

The Monitoring Programme for the Natural Environment comprises just over thirty monitoring sites. At each site, an environmental pressure is monitored in one of the five compartments of the natural environment: soil, groundwater, surface water, air, and floodwater. The monitoring sites are designed one by one and implemented in phases according to policy priorities. The results are made available through reports, online repositories, scientific publications, and advisory reports.

The programme will enable conclusions to be drawn regarding three key questions about environmental pressures at the Flemish level, thereby supporting the substantiation, planning, evaluation, and adjustment of Flemish nature policy. The monitoring of the potential causes of the deterioration of the conservation status is legally established in Article 50undecies of the Nature Decree. In addition, the monitoring and reporting obligations under the Habitats Directive (Articles 11 and 17) serve as an indirect rationale for the programme.