The Netherlands is lagging behind other European states when it comes to protecting its natural environment, the Dutch branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature says in Thursday’s Telegraaf.

Together with bird protection organisation Vogelbescherming and natural heritage body Natuurmonumenten ,the WWF carried out a comparative study of 18 European countries and the way in which they have embedded the European guidelines on nature protection in their national legislation.

‘Everything looks ok on paper but in practice the protection of nature is not up to speed,’ a WWF spokesman said.

The organisations are particularly worried about the state of the North Sea. The Dogger Bank, an area shared by the Netherlands, Germany and Britain, is a good example, the organisations say. In part of the area belonging to the Germans fishing is not allowed but the Dutch have no adequate protection in place for threatened fish species.

On land, the main point of criticism is the lack of interconnected natural areas and the lack of concrete measures for the protection for meadow birds.

The organisations say Croatia is a prime example of how things should be. Its natural parks are interconnected so animals can roam from one place to another. The other European countries should take a look at how they manage nature there, they might learn something, the organisations say.