Nature situation in Flanders improving, but slowly Flemish landscape (c) reporters Flanders is attracting new species of flora and fauna, despite the region’s population living beyond its ecological means, concludes the latest annual report from the Institute for Nature and Woodland Research (INBO). In the last five years, 25 new species of plants and animals have made Flanders their habitat, bringing the total number of ‘incomers’ since 1900 to more than 900. About 400 plants and 80 animals have formed sustainable populations here. But that’s not always good news: foreign species can represent a threat to indigenous species, and battling their entry costs more and more as the mobility of humans increases. Water quality in the region is steadily improving, even though there is still a lot of work to do, INBO reports. ‘The biodiversity of fresh water courses is improving,’ the report says. ‘But things were so bad it could only get better.’ For example, eels have been reported returning to the Zenne. Fish populations are growing in rivers and streams, in part thanks to water purification efforts. But the average Fleming is using up ecological resources at an unsustainable rate, the report warns. Measured by ecological footprint – the area of land needed to grow the resources used by each person – the population of Flanders is living beyond its means by consuming more than it can produce. Of all the resources consumed in Flanders, 59% are produced outside the region. An increasing awareness of environmental questions is not evident, INBO says. Fewer people are visiting nature and woodland sites, despite there being more than ever open to the public. The number of people who said they had never visited a nature site is growing. Individual environmental organisations are having mixed fortunes: WWF, Natuurpunt and the bird protection charity Vogelbescherming are attracting more new members, while Greenpeace is losing members, the report says.