Bird protection group Vogelbescherming is to go to court in an effort to force the government to meet earlier pledges to flood parts of the Hedwige polder in Zeeland, the Volkskrant reports.

The Netherlands agreed in 2005 to develop an extra 600 hectares of nature and turning the Hedwige polder back into marshland is part of that, the organisation says.
‘The Westerschelde estuary is the most important Dutch natural resource outside the Wadden Sea and is of international importance as a feeding and breeding area for tens of thousands of birds,’ the organisation says.
The Netherlands is committed to flooding the area of reclaimed land to compensate for the damage to nature caused by deepening the Westerschelde estuary. The estuary has been dredged to allow bigger ships to reach Antwerp port.