Biodiversity in the Netherlands and globally is in dire straits: species are declining rapidly, and ecosystems are under immense pressure. In this new program, KIN transition pioneers will provide extensive support for biodiversity restoration and climate change by effectively connecting them with knowledge institutions and policymakers.
Duration
april 2025
–
Heden
Theme
Biodiversity is crucial for life on Earth. Moreover, many societal processes are directly dependent on ecosystem diversity. Our food production, for example, is largely dependent on the best insects and healthy soils, but the current food system has a negative impact on biodiversity due to factors such as intensive agriculture and the use of pesticides.
Many of these drivers of biodiversity loss are therefore also drivers of climate change. Climate change also directly impacts the diversity of ecosystems and species, and in turn, ecosystems play a significant role in, for example, the carbon cycle, which in turn affects the climate. Climate and biodiversity are therefore inextricably linked. Despite attention to this equal dependence, they are still regularly treated as losses, both in science and policy. This is despite the need for a holistic approach in which climate and biodiversity measures are closely intertwined.
This need aligns with the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)’s recent ambition to better integrate Dutch biodiversity research and to explicitly address the relationship with climate change. The KIN will contribute to this by specifically addressing societal questions: where are practitioners engaged in the complex intersection of biodiversity restoration and climate change, and related societal challenges such as food, housing, and recreation? How are they operating from an alternative, nature-inclusive logic, and what transition challenges do they encounter?
The KIN is currently developing a program based on the need for such an integrated approach, recognizing the complexity faced by people in transition practices. We are seeking a specific area or region where we can make this complexity and the various actors working on biodiversity restoration tangible and understandable. The goal is to bring together various stakeholders from practice, policy, and academia to jointly develop a transition agenda. In this way, we apply various forms of knowledge to problems and questions that are truly formulated from the bottom up, in order to accelerate transitions for biodiversity restoration and climate change.
Please contact us.
