Green Deal: Natural Gardens - Flanders

One of the Green Deals of the Flemish Government in Belgium focuses on Natural Gardens. With this Green Deal, the gardening sector explores how investments in natural gardens are beneficial for the professional (working in the garden sector), the garden owner and the environment as a way to increase biodiversity in Flemish gardens and strengthen (public) support. More specifically the goals of this Green Deal are (1) to increase naturalness in design and management of private gardens, (2) to increase the usage of indigenous plants for private gardens, (3) to increase the supply of ecological garden materials and solutions, (4) to build up knowledge about sustainable design and management of natural gardens, (5) to create a policy vision and policy instruments that support the development of natural gardens. This Green Deal is part of the larger effort of the Flemish Government to contribute to a green economy through the pursuit of environmental objectives in combination with good operational management of participating partners, and increased competitiveness. The Green Deal is not an obligation to produce results but an obligation to make effort; all parties who commit do so voluntarily and commit to do all within their means to realize its goal. Agreements under the Green Deal are usually 3 to 4 years and should pave the way for similar initiatives. The results and gained knowledge are publicly shared in reports.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Agreement-based or cooperative instrument›Public-private business agreement

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Soil quality
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Drought and fire risk
Flood risk: pluvial and fluvial / soil permeability
Heat stress and heat island effect
Air quality
Reconnection to the biosphere / environmental education
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

Two million gardens take up 12% of Flanders (in comparison: natural areas 3% and forests 11%). Gardens can play an important role in the context of climate change, biodiversity and wellbeing when they are designed and managed through an ecological approach. 20% of the families with a garden hire a professional yearly for their garden design or management (VLAM, 2021). If professionals promote more natural gardens it can have a substantial impact. A natural garden is defined as a sustainable garden that provides multiple ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, water infiltration, air purification and food supply, as well as improving biodiversity, health, wellbeing and the quality of the living environment. In some cases a sustainable natural garden can be considered a part of a green-blue network and acts as a connection to other (bigger) natural areas.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Allotments, community gardens or agricultural areas

External building greens

Urban green space connected to grey infrastructure

Good practice characteristics:

Sustainable in the long-term

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Innovative

Policy business case

Inclusivity

Governance

Non-governmental actor(s)

Initiating body:

Private sector, corporate, business

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The Green Deal is a bottom-up instrument in which stakeholders make propositions. The initial idea for the Green Deal Natural Gardens was launched by Kenniscentrum Tuin+ (a garden knowledge center of the Erasmus Brussels University of Applied Sciences and Arts). They pitched it to the Department of Environment who connected the knowledge center with other partners in the industry such as the Belgian association of landscape and garden architects, the professional association of garden entrepreneurs, the association of Flemish garden contractors, a professional association for horticulture, a test center for horticulture and an association focusing on rural areas. It led to a coalition that handed in this Green Deal. Unique about this coalition is that two partners are direct competitors of each other. Collaboration between them is unique, but necessary for the gardening industry in Flanders to move as a sector to more sustainable practices.

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Private: household, real estate developer, business , financial

Researchers, university

Coalition

Primarily garden professionals

Details about the implementation:

Any professional gardening organization or individual can join the Green Deal, such as landscape or garden architects, garden designers, garden contractors, garden managers, knowledge institutes, nurseries and garden centers as well as (local) governments. In order to participate, it is expected that the organization implements at least one set of concrete action, shares knowledge and experiences with the other participants, share the results of their action(s) publicly and make steps that structurally contribute to more natural gardens in Flanders. Each partner could select on a list of actions which engagement they aim to achieve within the Green Deal or which they have already implemented (in order to support others). Each participant had to select at least 10 to 15 actions (dependent per type of stakeholder). Currently, more than 175 organizations participate with this Green Deal.

How did the government support the instrument?:

Although the Green Deal Natural Gardens is initiated by stakeholders of the gardening sector, it is done so within the larger policy framework of the Green Deal of the Flemish Government. This means that the initiating parties signed an agreement with the Flemish government to commit to their ambitions which should be in line with the Green Deal programme. The government does not allocate funds for the Green Deals, but they do offer (1) a contact point at the government who can facilitate or mediate between different policy domains, (2) to investigate if a 'space for experimentation' or a 'space with less regulations' can be created to support innovative start-ups, (3) to support businesses to reach new (foreign) markets.

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public regional budget

Corporate investment

Budget:

Unknown

Details about instrument financing:

The Green Deal does not provide budgets to the approved deals. The deals are voluntary and partners use their own budgets or try to apply for subsidies through other channels in order to fund particular actions. The Flemish Government does invest man-hours to support the deals (see 'government support').

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

A mid-term survey with the participants was conducted; the results are expected at the end of August 2022.

Did an evaluation take place?:

Yes

An evaluation of the overarching Green Deal instrument was conducted after its two year existence, although not specifically for the Green Deal - Natural gardens. The direct impact was hard to measure as the first Green Deals had not yet finished at the time of evaluation. An observed indirect impact was the increase in support for and awareness of initiatives that green the economy as well as the networks and the structured collaborations that initiated around a common goal. The evaluation report recommends maintaining the Green Deal instrument to contribute to a green economy and to collaborate with stakeholders, but highlights that new initiatives should be of high quality with sufficient support. Furthermore, the brand "Green Deal" should not become hollow or greenwashed. More recommendations can be read in the evaluation report (Dutch only) (Vlaams Planbureau Omgeving, 2019).

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

Some midterm outcomes and impact of this Green Deal are that 66% of the partners apply the list of commitments they signed, applied tips and meet the objectives. The majority of partners say they find it easier to convince customers to make decisions in favor of a more natural garden. Professionals have raised awareness around soil, desealing and choices in trees and plants and promote alternatives to the classical/traditional Flemish approach to designing and managing a garden (fertilizing, sealing, limited amount of species). Customers become more aware of the necessity and benefits of a more natural garden (e.g. in relation to climate change). The Green Deal strengthens the momentum of professionals that (started to) focus on more natural gardens and confirms it is a valuable future of the business (Knack, 2022).

Success factors and lessons learned:

Participating in a Flemish Green Deal offers opportunities to make initiatives visible, to speed up initiatives, access new networks, stimulate new markets, to get involved with less conventional collaborations, to bring the government closer to companies, organizations and civil society for sharing information first hand and noticing their needs. This Green Deal unites partners and professional associations across the gardening chain, including two parties that are direct competitors. All partners together have a wide outreach, including to the more classically schooled professionals which is considered a strong point of this Green Deal. Collaboration between two direct competitors is unique but deemed necessary for the gardening industry in Flanders to move as a sector to more sustainable practices. Two times per year an (thematic) event is organized to exchange knowledge, tools and experiences as well as collecting and sharing good practice examples from participating partners. Network activities contribute to exchange between industry and government and the exploration of how they can help and strengthen each other's objectives. Furthermore, the website and newsletter are an easily accessible way of sharing information. A final lesson learned is that there is a need for an independent party to collect and share knowledge. The government can take up this role in dialogue with the industry (Knack, 2022).

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

Department of Environment. (2022) Green Deal Natuurlijke Tuinen. Available at https://omgeving.vlaanderen.be/nl/green-deal-natuurlijke-tuinen (accessed on: 27-7-2022).

Knack. (2022) Green Deal Natuurlijke Tuinen transformeert Vlaamse tuinen: ‘Het besef begint door te sijpelen’. Available at (behind paywall) https://www.knack.be/nieuws/milieu/green-deal-natuurlijke-tuinen-transformeert-vlaamse-tuinen-het-besef-begint-door-te-sijpelen/ (accessed on 20-06-2022).

VLAM. (2021) Eén op vijf van de tuineigenaars doet beroep op een tuinaannemer. Available at https://www.vlaanderen.be/vlam/sites/default/files/publications/2021-11/20211026%20evolutie%20tuinaanleg.pdf (accessed on 27-07-2022).

Vlaams Planbureau voor Omgeving. (2019) Evaluatie van het Green Deal instrument. Available at https://omgeving.vlaanderen.be/sites/default/files/2021-11/Evaluatierapport%20Green%20Deals_09072019.pdf (accessed on 27-07-2022).

Interview(s):

Flemish Department of Environment

Further documents

Weblinks:

https://omgeving.vlaanderen.be/nl/green-deal-natuurlijke-tuinen

Photos

@jardín privado de Plant en Houtgoed