NIOO-KNAW director Louise Vet is the new number 1 in the Sustainable 100, the annual list of the Netherlands' "greenest thinkers and doers" published by the national newspaper Trouw. According to the jury, Vet is both: a scientific thinker about the decline of biodiversity, but also someone who takes action in the form of the ambitious Master Plan for Recovering Biodiversity.

The many recent publications charting the decline of flying insects and other species have made the decline of biodiversity in the Netherlands an "urgent theme" this year, writes Trouw. This explains the "onslaught" of ecologists in the upper regions of the Sustainable 100 list: ecologists take a "broad view", in which everything is connected to everything. Soil. Air. Water. Nature. Agriculture.

Looking at those connections, it becomes clear that biodiversity loss doesn't just affect a few species but is a dangerous blow to the health, resilience and balance of the entire world we live in. That's what makes ecology - in Louise Vet's words - "the science of the 21st century".

It can be done

But it's not enough merely to look at connections. Vet tells Trouw that her mission is to "rescue" biodiversity in the Netherlands by staunching its decline before it's too late. It can be done, she says. But this, too, requires the kind of "broad view" and eye for connections and interrelationships that is typical for ecologists. "If you don't include everyone in your plans", believes Vet, "change is an illusion."

And including everyone - from bankers to supermakets to farmers - is exactly what the Deltaplan Biodiversiteitsherstel (Master Plan for Recovering Biodiversity) is all about. Even if farmers are often ostracised from environmental discussions because they're blamed for the Netherlands' current 'monomaniac' soil use, which is aimed almost exclusively at maximising production of a handful of crop plants.

The farmers have been getting a bad wrap, says Vet. "They're trapped. In many cases they've had to take out loans, forcing them to produce more and more. It's the basic business model that has to change. That also means consumers will have to pay for things they've long considered free, such as clean water and healthy soils."

Master Plan

The Deltaplan Biodiversiteit was launched last year by the Netherlands Ecological Research Network (NERN), which is chaired by Vet. Getting all the parties on board for this "unique dialogue" is "to a large extent her achievement", writes Trouw. It's what has "catapulted her" to the top of the Sustainable 100 list.

Most of the talks so far have been behind closed doors, with a finalised text expected later this year. For Vet, her mission has occasionally been "a struggle" says Trouw. But she is determined to see it through, pointing to smaller-scale examples of succesful biodiversity restoration in the Netherlands to demonstrate that it really can be done.

That trademark combination of optimism and determination also played a role in the British Ecological Society's decision last year to bestow on Vet its highest honour, and in a number of other recent awards and accolades. And it's made her a popular choice to lead the Sustainable 100.

Reactions

Just a few of the reactions to Trouw's announcement on social media: "It couldn't have happened to a more deserving person", "a wonderful number one", "she's driven and approachable", etc. etc. But Vet herself appears surprised more than anything.

"If there's one thing one doesn't deserve it's this", she said during the awards ceremony in Amsterdam. "For the Master Plan, we're working with an enormous coalition. The vision we've painted is a shared vision first and foremost."

 

 

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