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The Environmental Manifesto Posted by on Feb 23, 2017 in Uncategorized

Binnenhof in The Hague (photo taken by Christopher A. Dominic found on Flickr.com)

Elections are coming up and everyone is talking about it. One of the many issues that is being talked about is the environment.

Jan Terlouw, a retired politician from the D66 party, recently met up with leaders of the youth organizations affiliated to the different political parties to discuss what it is they want the government to focus on. After much discussion, the young leaders created a manifesto of what it is they want the government to focus on. These are their main points:

  • Het beleid van het kabinet zal erop zijn gericht dat Nederland gaat behoren tot de koplopers op het gebied van duurzaamheid, met name als het gaat om concretisering van de Parijse akkoorden, die er op neerkomen dat de temperatuurstijging van de atmosfeer deze eeuw beperkt moet blijven tot minder dan twee graden Celsius. Het kabinet zal daarvoor concrete maatregelen nemen.
    The policy of the government will aim to ensure that the Netherlands is among the leaders in the field of sustainability, particularly when it comes to realization of the Paris agreement, which comes down to a limitation in the rise in temperature of the atmosphere in this century of less than two degrees Celsius. The government will take concrete measures.
  • Het principe ‘de vervuiler betaalt’ zal uitgangspunt zijn van het kabinetsbeleid. Daardoor wordt een gelijk speelveld gecreëerd voor de industrie, wat een voorwaarde is voor succesvolle innovaties op het gebied van duurzame productie.
    The principle of ‘polluter pays’ will be the starting point of government policy. Thereby, a level playing field is created for the industry, which is a prerequisite for successful innovations in the field of sustainable production.
  • Het kabinet zal iedere maatregel toetsen aan het effect ervan op de kwaliteit van de aarde, nationaal en internationaal, nu en in de toekomst.
    The government will assess the impact of every measure on the quality of the earth, nationally and internationally, now and in the future.
  • Het kabinet zal alles in het werk stellen om in internationaal verband te bevorderen dat multinationale ondernemingen niet minder belasting betalen dan het midden- en kleinbedrijf
    The government will make every effort to promote that multinational companies do not pay less taxes than SMEs in an international context.
  • Bij het realiseren van bovenstaande maatregelen zal voor het kabinet de menselijke maat norm zijn in wetgeving, regelgeving en beleid.
    In achieving the above measures, the humane standard will be norm for the government in legislation, regulations and policies.

What makes this manifesto so important for the upcoming elections is that the young people of the Netherlands from different political parties were able to unanimously agree on these five points.

Jan Terlouw and some of the people involved in the creation of the manifesto were on the Dutch evening show De Wereld Draait Door. If you would like to see the excerpt and practice listening, check the video. Below are some words that can be useful for the manifesto and the video.

Useful Vocabulary

beleid– policy
koplopers– leaders
duurzaamheid– durability
temperatuurstijging– increase in temperature
maatregelen– measures
uitgangspunt– starting point
kabinetsbeleid– government policy
verband– link, connection
gezamenlijke– joint
gebleken– revealed
voorzitter– chairman
vertrouwen– to trust
toekomst-future
prachtig– wonderful
bevolking– population

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About the Author: Karoly Molina

Since I was a little girl, I was fascinated with languages and writing. I speak English, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and a little bit of French. I am a writer, reader, language teacher, traveler, and a food lover! I now live in The Netherlands with my husband Riccardo, our cat Mona, and our dog Lisa, and the experience has been phenomenal. The Dutch culture is an exciting sometimes topsy-turvy world that I am happily exploring!


Comments:

  1. Joseph T. Madawela:

    dit was uitstekend. Dankeuwel