Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity

In the Caribbean Netherlands, protected area management organizations have well organized education and outreach programmes and strong after-school programmes for local children [ ] 167 Programmes and celebrations During the International Year of Biodiversity 2010, a ‘Coalition 2010’ gathering over 200 companies, NGOs and local governments engaged in massive awareness-raising actions in order to increase public awareness of the importance of nature and their willingness to share responsibility for its preservation. The overall theme, “The Garden and The Fridge,” ad- dressed care for nature as well as con- sumption and lifestyle. Ten regional and two nationwide projects received government co-funding, with the remainder of over 200 projects and initiatives supported by the initiators. The coalition organised the nation- wide celebrations of World Biodi- versity Day 2010 and 2011 involving national celebrities including HRH Princess Irene. Since then, coalition partners continued awareness-raising activities with various funding sourc- es. The annual celebration of World Biodiversity Day was combined with Fête de la Nature Holland for the first time in 2013. A wider continuation of this event was established with fund- ing in 2014 by the Nationaal Groen- fonds (Dutch National Fund for Rural Areas) and other organizations. In addition, the National Tree Planting Day has been celebrated annually un- der a variety of sub-themes involving thousands of school children. Also, numerous CEPA activities have been implemented under gov- ernmental nature education pro- grammes. Recently, several new steps have been taken to increase aware- ness and involvement of the Dutch government. The completion of two major governmental programmes for awareness-raising that were opera- tional until the end of 2012: “Learn- ing for Sustainable Development” and “Nature and Environmental Ed- ucation.” They were then merged into a follow-up programme: “Progress in Sustainability by Social Innovation for a Green Economy.” In 2014, the themes of the Nat- ural Capital Agenda 2013 and its effects have been integrated into the awareness-raising programme entitled: “Progress in Sustainability,” with the intent to increase knowl- edge, awareness and attitude towards a sustainable economy and green economic growth. The programme had a budget of US$ 4.6 million per year, and consisted of five themes: biodiversity, energy, food, water and materials. These chosen themes focused on sustainable production and consumption, socially accepted enterprise, educational issues and integral development. Zaanse Schans, Zaandam, Netherlands Netherlands T he Kingdom of the Netherlands has its territory in Europe and in the Caribbean, and consist of four countries: The Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao and Saint Maarten, with the latter three located in the Caribbean along with the municipalities of Bonaire, Saint Eustatius, and Saba. Biodiversity in the Caribbean is very different from that in Western Europe. The islands of the Caribbean Netherlands form part of the larger Caribbean biodiversity hotspot on the basis of their species richness and high level of endemism. An estimated 10 to 15,000 species occur on and around these three tiny islands. Malcolm Lightbody on Unsplash