World Biodiversity Day: close to home

It's World Biodiversity Day. Attempts to put biodiversity on the social and political agenda here in the Netherlands enter a new phase today, with a meeting of the Delta Plan for Biodiversity Recovery where interested parties can ask questions and share inspiration.

Flowers, frogs, birds, bees: around the uniquely sustainable NIOO-building there is plenty of biodiversity on show. The same cannot be said for many other places: as the recent IPBES rapport demonstrated, biodiversity loss is a more urgent problem now than ever. Not just for nature, but also for our health and needs as humans.

The United Nations' International Day for Biodiversity (a.k.a. World Biodiversity Day) promotes biodiversity issues every year on 22 May, the day the landmark Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD) was adopted back in 1992.

On Twitter, under the hashtag #BiodiversityDay, and on other social media, you'll find a long list of dire warnings and calls to action, many of which are linked to this year's theme: 'Our biodiversity, our food, our health'.

Broad social movement

Food production and health are also key factors for the Delta Plan for Biodiversity Recovery here in the Netherlands. After its succesful launch late last year, the organisers are marking World Biodiversity Day with a meeting in Lunteren for potential new partners. They write:

"Our initiative to stop the loss of biodiversity in the Netherlands through an unprecedented cooperation between farmers, nature conservation organizations, private individuals, researchers, and governments at the regional level is turning into a broad social movement. Talks are underway with many new parties to join. On 22 May, we would like to present the next steps."

More than 150 people are expected at the meeting in Lunteren. Potential new partners can ask questions and share their input, and there are speakers including Louise Vet, director of NIOO and one of the driving forces behind the Delta Plan.

• More about the Delta Plan for Biodiversity Recovery (website in Dutch)