Co Molenaar

Ing. N.J. (Co) Molenaar (engineer degree in Horticultural and economics 1982) works for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management at the executive agency Rijkswaterstaat as a senior policy advisor since 2012. He works on different soil and groundwater related issues.

Since 2012 he recommends policy makers national and international to connect soil and land with societal challenges like food production, climate change, energy, drinking water supply, resources. From 2015 he works on the implementation of soil related Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on Land Degradation Neutrality (SDG 15.3). The soil policy in the Netherlands has been changed from protection towards sustainable use of the soil and land and thereby to use the soil services in a sustainable way. The challenge is to use good narratives to create awareness by stakeholders.

He works in many international networks like Global Soil Partnership, Common Forum on contaminated land, EU Expert Group on soil policy and MAES pilot soil. Also bilateral agreements between countries formulated in Memorandum of Understanding with Canada and China. He is often the representative of the Dutch ministry of Environment in the Partners for International Business programs for Canada and China.