The large-scale transformation of the landscape of the Low Countries that made land available for agriculture and settlement started as long ago as the Middle Ages. The natural landscape was gradually replaced by a cultivated one. The first rumblings of dissent against this ongoing process were heard towards the end of the 19th century. Public interest in nature was growing and with it the appeal for nature conservation.

Preservation
An important milestone in this preservation history was the founding of the Vereniging Natuurmonumenten (Society for the Preservation of Natural Monuments) in 1905, and its first achievement was the acquisition of the Naardermeer. Conservationists believed in the scientific and social significance of preserving natural areas alongside agricultural and urban areas. Though they booked some successes, the Netherlands still experienced a post-war wave of land reclamation, reconstruction and land consolidation projects, which resulted in a further loss of nature areas. It was only in the 1970s that nature and the "so-called" cultural landscape became the subject of renewed interest. Both came to be recognized by the body politic as vessels of cultural value. Preserved natural areas took the physical form of national parks.

Restoring
In the same period, nature conservation broadened its outlook: from pure preservation it shifted towards more intensive management and restoration, and in the 1990s progressed as far as the development of new nature. The notion of the "restoration" of the "authentic" landscape of the Netherlands imbued the term "makeability" with a wholly new meaning. Nowadays, "restoring" nature serves a much more practical objective: attention is focused on locations for water storage and recreation.

Naardermeer (1629, 1806 - 1809, 1883 - 1886)

Lauwersmeer (1969)