What is the Wageningen Biodiversity Initiative?

The Wageningen Biodiversity Initiative was launched in June 2021 by like-minded researchers from all WUR science groups. Liesje Mommer, professor of Belowground Ecology, had led the Initiative since that start. "Biodiversity loss is one of the biggest challenges that we face today," she says. "I have decided to use my concern about this as a motivation to develop pathways towards building a nature-positive society. Working together from different perspectives is essential to accelerate change."

• Read what three years of intensive collaboration has achieved: 'First WUR, then the rest of the world'

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Goals of the WBI

1. To create WUR-wide connections on biodiversity by growing an active biodiversity network
2. To foster transformative research aimed at bending the curve of biodiversity loss by facilitating multi-/transdisciplinary research proposals and projects
3. To promote the integration of biodiversity topics in educational programmes at all levels
4. To accelerate the application of WUR biodiversity knowledge in policy and society​ by positioning WUR as a global knowledge partner on biodiversity

Achievements

The WBI is a fluid network with many ongoing collaborations, co-creation teams and coordinatory work. New ideas and methods emerge and evolve quickly. Among the many successes and collaborations we have established thus far are:

• Wageningen Biodiversity Challenge: A yearly event in which we organise a Bioblitz (species counting contest) and biodiversity excursions around campus. The event is open to all of WUR as well as people from in and outside Wageningen. In 2023, we even organised a competition against 16 European universities of the ICA network. The Biodiversity Challenge had been received with enthousiasm and has drawn significant attention to the theme.
• Bimonthly get-togethers for the WUR community, usually centered around a specific topic. These get-togethers have helped greatly in forging new connections and collaborations. Subscribe to our Biodiversity@WUR newsletter to stay informed!
• Uniting experts on soil health to write a policy discussion note for the EU to provide scientific input on the new EU Soil Health Law, which is under review in 2023.
• The 2022 Mansholt Lecture in Brussels: A lecture given to Brussels policymakers on the entry points to nature-positive futures, preceded and followed up by more policy discussions and meetings. A booklet was published for reference (see link for download version).
• WUR joining the Nature-Positive Universities alliance, a partnership between University of Oxford, UNEP Youth & Education and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
• Co-coordinating the Biodiversity-Positive Food Systems investment theme, in which research into diverse crop breeding, social transformation and post-harvest food processing is combined.
• Organising a biodiversity day for PABO (teachers' college) students, helping them to prepare lessons on biodiversity for their pupils. Followed by a Children's University on biodiversity, in which 200 primary school students followed a biodiversity lecture and outdoor workshops, and a Design Competition on biodiversity. In this competition, groups of primary school children made a plan to increase biodiversity around their schools.
• A lunch lecture series on Biodiversity, Finance and Food systems, asking: what is WUR already doing to support changes in the financial sector? And what can it do better?

Work with us

If you want to explore collaboration with(in) WUR on biodiversity-related topics, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the WBI on biodiversity@wur.nl. We look forward to hearing your suggestions and plans!