The Netherlands Advisory Council for Research on Spatial Planning, Nature and the Environment (RMNO)
Raad voor Ruimtelijk, Milieu- en Natuuronderzoek
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Raad voor Ruimtelijk, Milieu- en Natuuronderzoek (RMNO) Visitors' address: Emmapark 6 NL-2595 ET The Hague Postal Address: P.O.Box 93051 NL-2509 AB The Hague The Netherlands Tel. +31 70 315 52 10 Fax +31 70 315 52 20 bureau@rmno.nl www.rmno.nl |
Current and Future Activities
Present and Future Priority Fields
The motto for the RMNO working programme 2008-2009 is "Knowledge Co-creation for a sustainable living environment", It focuses on projects in three categories:
- Knowledge strategies;
- Governance;
- Living environment;
Concrete
projects include:
- Preparation international conference (August 2009) in
- Policy theories behind policies of the Environment/Planning and the Agriculture/Nature ministries.
- Strength/weakness analysis of sustainable development in Dutch education and research.
- Developing a training on knowledge management for policy makers.
- Analysis of Dutch climate change and adaptation research.
- Governance of the long-term development of
-
Governance of new water management in the
-
Development of a ‘3P assessment mechanism’ for sustainable development policies.
-
Analysis knowledge questions regarding sustainable procurement.
- Establishing a knowledge platform for dealing with risks.
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Assisting ministries with developing their strategic knowledge agendas.
-
Governance of long term decisions (together with WG Governance of EEAC)( Due September 2008).
-
Regional sustainable tourism challenges (for the provinces).
-
Social Cost Benefit Analysis for Environmental Policy-making (Report published September).
Background and Mission
Establishment
The Advisory council for Research on Spatial Planning, Nature and the Environment (RMNO) is a so called sectoral council, established in 1981. Sectoral councils give advise to the government on research into problems in a specific sector of society. The RMNO advises on the content and organisation of research on environmental issues on the mid-long term; spatial planning, nature conservation and landscape conservation issues included. In addition to a sectoral council for the environment and nature, there were also sectoral councils for health, agriculture and development assistance, but they have been abolished.
The RMNO concentrates on knowledge and the future. Optimising the development and utilisation of knowledge is RMNO’s major goal. There are many different types of knowledge in our society, related to different norms and values. Within the field of spatial planning, environment and nature there is considerable diversity. At the same time, spatial planning, environment and nature are closely interwoven. The same is true for knowledge.
Mission
The RMNO’s aim is to make knowledge and understanding of space, the environment and nature accessible for everyone, both in the Netherlands and within a European context. The Council strives towards a sustainable community where knowledge development and utilisation optimally meet the needs of society. Social, natural and aesthetic values relating to space, environment and nature are fundamental to this. RMNO, as an independent knowledge intermediary, provides the link between the policy arena and the knowledge arena, and directs the knowledge infrastructure.
Council Members
The RMNO is tripartite in its composition, meaning that its 14 Council Members derive from circles of researchers, policy-makers and users of research (consultants, trade and industry and non-governmental organisations). Their term started in November 2006 and it will end in November 2008. The Council members are as follows:
| Chairman Prof. Dr. Roel. in 't Veld |
Professor of Public Administration Management, Open University
and University of the Dutch Antilles Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Railways infraprovider |
| Members Jeroen Bordewijk |
(former) Unilever NV |
| Prof. Dr. Joske Bunders | Free University, Amsterdam |
| Prof. Dr. Rietje van Dam-Mieras | Open University |
| Prof. Dr. Herman Eijsackers | Wageningen University |
| Frans Evers | CEO MER, TIAS, Globus |
| Wallie Hoogendoorn-Beks | Alterra |
| Prof. Dr. Pieter Hooimeijer | University of Utrecht, Utrecht |
| Marga Kool | Institute of Water Management Reest en Wieden, Meppel |
| Bart Jan Krouwel | Rabobank Nederland, Head of Sustainable Development Department |
| Jan Laan | Programme Office ROM-Rijnmond, Rotterdam |
| Prof. Dr. Geert Teisman | Erasmus University Rotterdam |
| Prof. Dr. Pier Vellinga | Free University, Faculty of Life and Earth Sciences, Amsterdam |
| Prof. Dr. Aad de Zeeuw | Catholic University of Brabant, Tilburg, Center for Economic Research |
| Prof. Dr. Erwin Bulte | Wageningen University and Catholic University of Brabant, Tilburg, Center for Economic Research |
Staff Members
The RMNO has a secretariat with around eight staff. Dr. Louis Meuleman is the Secretary-General.
Work Style
Tasks of the Council
Field of Activity, role and conception of duties
Field of Activity
The RMNO is concerned with knowledge in the wide area of spatial
planning,
nature and environment. Within this sphere the Council will seek to
establish or
strengthen links between the numerous organisations, which are involved
in
knowledge production, exchange and use. These are the RMNO strategic
business
relations. Together they make up the infrastructure aimed at using
knowledge for
the improvement of our living environment, in other words the Council
‘s
surroundings.
The RMNO ’s role
The RMNO acts as an independent and policy neutral intermediary between demand for
knowledge
(the policy arena) and the supply of knowledge (the knowledge arena).
To that
end it maintains an extensive network of relationships in which
government,
science and other societal actors are well represented.
Conception of duties
The RMNO performs various functions including developing a
vision, signaling issues, agenda setting, advising about research programming,
promoting systems innovation and establishing links in the widest sense.
Main Activities
In order to achieve its goals and implement its role and conception of duties, the Council undertakes the following main activities:
- Vision development – the Council indicates in which way knowledge needs to be made available for future policy development;
- Signaling of issues – the Council assesses social, economic and scientific trends and timely signals gaps or overlap in knowledge development or bottlenecks in the knowledge infrastructure;
- Agenda setting – the Council initiates debate on new perspectives and ideas with respect to knowledge development and use, and thus influences the process of research programming;
- Advising – the Council gives advice, both with and without request, to the Ministers of Housing, Spatial Planning & Environment (VROM), of Agriculture, Fisheries & Nature Management (LNV), of Transport & Public Works (V&W), of Economic Affairs (EZ) and of Education, Culture & Science (OC&W), as well as to other relevant organisations. The advice is about policy development and implementation, particularly the role of knowledge production and use. Central issue are recommendations about research topics, process design, finance, international context, institutional links etc.
- Innovation – the Council stimulates innovative processes, including systems innovation, i.e. the drastic renewal of existing methods and processes of knowledge use;
- Establishing links – the Council acts as intermediary in encouraging all actors and stakeholders in a particular area of interest to co-operate. Again the main aim is the improvement of knowledge production and use. Linkages also need to be established between academic disciplines and specialisations, between present and future, and between different policy areas.
Substructure and Working Groups
There are no working groups, but (for larger project) teams which include one or more council members.
In 2008 a new substructure was established with two 'shadow councils': a policy shadow council (consisting of 12 young policy makers) and a science shadow council (consisting of 12 young scientists of different disciplines). They meet around 3 times per year, and discuss with the Council the relevance and content of some of the major projects.
Council Meetings
The Council meets around six times a year. In 2008: 18 March, 2 July, 16 September, 29 October and 17 December.
Type of Advice
- Ministries: Economic Affairs (EZ), Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries (LNV), Education, Culture and Science (OCW), Transport and Water Management, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM);
- Local authorities: provinces, municipal councils (metropolitan and urban) and district water boards;
- Knowledge institutes;
- Large firms and branch organisations;
- Social organisations;
- The European Commission, the General Directorates of the European Union, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and other international organisations.
Activities in the EEAC Network
The RMNO was involved in the early years of the network and became member when membership was introduced in 1997.
It chairs the Working Group Governance and is an active member of the Working Group Sustainable Development.
Council member Frans Evers has been Chairman of the EEAC Steering Committee as from 2005. The RMNO hosted the EEAC Office from 2002 to 2004.
The Council organised the 11th Annual Conference 2003 on Environmental Governance in Florence and co-hosted the 5th Annual Conference 1997 on Self Regulation within Society in Vinkeveen.
Publications available in English
Recent publications
- Social Cost Benefit Analysis for Environmental Policy Making (August 2008);
- States of Nature - nature and fish stock reports for policy, (January 2008);
- Horizon Scan of the Netherlands (December 2007, English version Spring 2008);
- Nature and Health II, English Summary (October 2007);
- Connecting the agendas - proceedings of the conference on Sustainable Development of Tourism (2007);
- A New Sustainable Development Strategy: An Opportunity Not To Be Missed, Report of the Peer Review NSDS (2007);
- Building Bridges - Researchers on their experiences with interdisciplinary research in the Netherlands Co-production of RMNO, KNAW, NWO, (2007);
- Peer review of the National Sustainable Development Strategy (June 2007);
- Sustainable Development Strategy of the Netherlands, Background report to the peer review, (October 2006);
- Advice: Sustainable Development of Tourism. Knowledge Agenda (January 2006);
Please contact the RMNO secretariat for an English copy of the mentioned publications.
For more information on past publications, click here.
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Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils, Den
Haag. All Rights Reserved.
Last updated on 4 August 2008