For our newsletter, we talk to stakeholders within OR ELSE about their involvement in the project, sustainable sand extraction, and their questions for our research team. This time: Maarten de Jong, policy officer at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature (marine team) and advisor at the Marine Information House.
What role does sand play in your life?
I did my PhD research on sand extraction under Martin Baptist, focusing on the effects of deep sand mining. That was before the construction of the Tweede Maasvlakte! These days, much more sand is being extracted, and at greater depths. Because of my PhD research, I’m very aware of the potential risks and ecological effects this can have, and how much we still don’t know. So I’m really happy that OR-ELSE is now conducting serious research on this topic. Back then, I was one of the few people working on sand extraction, so it’s great to see that the research field has grown, and that Martin now leads an entire team!
You’re now part of ‘Team Marine’. What role does sand extraction play in your work?
We started as a very small team, just the five of us. But there’s so much happening in the North Sea that we didn’t have enough time or attention for everything. Luckily, we’re now with fifteen people, which allows me to focus on sand extraction. I’d like to take it even further and really develop an integrated policy vision for sand extraction, one that considers the cumulative ecological effects. We still think and work in too many separate worlds. Our aim with the Informatiehuis Marien is to share knowledge that other stakeholders and ministries can use, so we can bring those different worlds together and make policy based on the right knowledge.
There’s more and more attention for sand extraction and its ecological effects. Are you satisfied yet?
No, of course it can always be more and better! With all the developments at sea, there’s still never enough time. We still too often forget that sand is vital. You could literally lose half of the Netherlands due to sea level rise!
You used to work in research, and now you’re on the policy side. Within OR-ELSE, we want to ensure that our research results eventually lead to better policy. What do you think is needed to achieve that?
It’s crucial to research the right knowledge gaps, your research really has to match the information needs from practice. Sometimes there’s a mismatch there. But at the same time, there’s still so much we don’t know about the effects of sand extraction, that you also just need to start investigating to find out whether it’s relevant knowledge. In the end, it’s also important that your research team has strong contacts at the ministry, so the results are actually picked up. I also think the Digital Twin will help with this, to really map out the different effects and make them tangible.
Do you have any questions for the OR-ELSE researchers?
I’m not sure how much information is already available, but at the Marine Information House, we’re in great need of better data provision. For us, those are the puzzle pieces we need to form a vision of the opportunities and risks that sand extraction brings with it.