Established in 1968, Oostvaardersplassen National Park is the Netherlands’ youngest national park sitting on land reclaimed from the sea after World War II. It is known for its minimal-intervention, or rewilding, approach, which has led to an ecosystem resembling European prehistoric times.

To further guide the future management of the park, we designed a development framework based on the ELSIA model, which comprises the following performance areas: Energy (energy & materials), Life (ecosystem & biodiversity), Society (culture & economy), Individual (happiness & health), and Actions (interventions & projects). ELSIA is part of our Symbiosis in Development (SiD) methodology.

Under this framework, we set goals for renewable energy, local material loops, green and quiet mobility, biodiversity and connectivity with European nature reserves, organizational culture, stakeholder engagement, human well-being, economic impact, and financial resilience. Nine park principles regarding circularity, transparency, and fairness guide the daily work toward these goals.

Adoption of this framework by the park’s permanent teams and project teams will facilitate internal planning and control and enhance external communication and accountability.

The Inspirational Anthology, the companion document, briefly describes successful sustainability projects elsewhere that could be adopted or adapted to achieve the park’s goals, such as power-producing buildings (Wales), renewable energy (Grand Canyon NP), CO2 neutrality (Zambezi NP), BREEAM building design (Pembrokeshire), circularity passports (EPEA, Germany), halophyte water purification (Netherlands), soil enrichment (Loess Plateau China), and many more.

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