Caribbean Netherlands often forgotten in government policy on the physical environment

Major challenges and significant backlogs

The Caribbean islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba are facing major challenges in terms of their physical environment. For example, the housing supply as well as the quality of housing are below standard. The same applies to road infrastructure, which is both inadequate and of poor quality. Although the islands have been an integral part of the Netherlands since 10 October 2010, there are major and unjustifiable backlogs in the physical environment, compared to European Netherlands.

Current policy measures are contributing to backlogs

The Rli notes that these persisting backlogs are partly due to differences in policy implementation by the national government. Furthermore, the Rli notes that there is a lack of implementation capacity, both on the islands and at national government level, to tackle the major challenges in the physical environment. Finally, the Rli's advisory report notes that policy intensifications for the European Netherlands do not automatically go hand in hand with equivalent policy intensifications for the Caribbean Netherlands, despite the commitment by the Dutch Cabinet to do so.

The same level of quality of the physical environment for all of the Netherlands

The advisory report presents three recommendations to achieve equal quality of the physical environment throughout the Netherlands, including the Caribbean islands.

1. Jointly, determine the ambition levels. 
   The Rli recommends that the national government and the Caribbean islands, in consultation with residents and businesses, jointly determine their ambitions for the quality of the physical environment. Although there is currently broad agreement on the division of tasks between the national government and the islands, the quality level to which these tasks must be carried out has not been established.
2. Increase the effectiveness and collaboration between the national government and the Caribbean islands. 
   The joint ambition levels must be translated into appropriate government funding for the islands. However, implementation power is not just about money and capacity. It also requires administrative willingness to act and mutual trust. The formal division of roles and tasks should not be a strictly enforced boundary, but rather a starting point from which all parties do what is necessary to achieve the stated level of ambition. According to the Rli, this should include a long-term and substantial cooperation programme between the national government and the three Caribbean islands. This should be linked to the the National Programme on dynamic regions launched by the Cabinet, which currently focuses solely on the European Netherlands.
3. Include the Caribbean Netherlands in policy-making, right from the start.
   Finally, the Rli advocates that the Caribbean Netherlands be included in policy-making for the physical environment from the outset. Although this has already been agreed since 2019, it often does not happen in practice. The national government, therefore, should draw up a concise overview of all policy intentions for the physical environment, at fixed times each year, with specifications of how it intends to include the Caribbean Netherlands. The three Caribbean islands, in turn, should be given the opportunity to request their participation, for example, in those subsidy schemes or incentive programmes that the national government intends to apply only to European Netherlands.

Note to the editor

To request interviews, please contact Anneke Verschoor, communications advisor: anneke.verschoor@rli.nl or +31 6 1535 9540.

For more information about this advisory report, please contact Joris Stok, project leader: joris.stok@rli.nl or +31 6 1324 6502.

The advisory report can be downloaded from 13 June 2025, 15:00 hrs, via www.rli.nl.

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