Transforming 2,000 hectares of sea bed into a port and industrial estate will obviously have an impact on the flora and fauna living there: natural habitat is being forfeited. Compensation is accomplished by: 

• establishing a sea bed protection area
• creating a new dune area  

The sea bed protection area used to be called a marine reserve. This wrongly suggests that the area in question is one in which many restrictions are in place to limit human activities. The focus, however, is on protecting the sea bed and providing rest areas for protected bird species.

The extent of environmental compensation
The sea bed protection area will cover at most 25,000 hectares. At most 35 hectares at Delfland is being reserved for the additional dune area. The extent of environmental compensation required has been established in the Key Physical Planning Decision for the Rotterdam Mainport Development Project (PKB PMR). The final design for land reclamation can result in taking either more or fewer compensation measures. The decision regarding the ultimate extent of environmental compensation will be included in the Maasvlakte 2 Construction and Zoning Environmental Impact Assessment (MER). This assessment will be followed by establishing a final plan. 

Scheduling 
The sea bed protection area must be established by the spring of 2008 when construction on Maasvlakte 2 is scheduled to start. Creating the new dunes will begin when the outer ring of reclaimed land is created. 

Supervision 
The results of this environmental compensation will be monitored closely by the European Commission. Should the environmental impacts of land reclamation be greater than expected, additional environmental compensation will be needed. The European Commission has requested that it be frequently informed in regard to the state of affairs.