Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity

In Belgium it is publicly accepted that everybody can and should act for biodiver- sity in order to preserve beauty and ecosystem services for the wellbeing of our generation, our children and grandchildren [ ] 60 Communication, education and public awareness Being mandated as the National Focal Point to the Convention on Biological Diversity as well as for the Clearing House Mechanism (CHM), the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences launched the Belgian version of the information exchange website in 1996, the second European and the fifth country worldwide to do so. Through the CEBioS project funded by the Bel- gian Development Cooperation, it also supports 34 countries in maintaining their CHM in various ways. The project offers web hosting of National CHMs and organizes capac- ity building workshops for managers of the National CHMs of partner countries. These workshops teach how to make best use of the CHM. Each year a project call is issued to assist partner countries to further develop their CHM, publicize it and involve stakeholders. The call is also intended for South-South cooperation projects: Morocco has assisted other Arab speaking countries to develop their national CHMs, Benin is assisting Togo and Gabon. The 13th Conference of the Parties (2016) acknowledged this activity by awarding it a prize for the work being undertaken. Seven of the partner countries that benefited from the project also received a prize or an award for the quality of their CHMs. In the context of the 2010 Interna- tional Biodiversity Year, communica- tion, education and public awareness efforts were upscaled and harmo- nised, culminating in the information and engagement campaign “I give life to my planet”. Within a few years, more than 20,000 citizens engaged to undertake more than 100,000 biodiversity actions. The campaign launched a booklet: 366 Ideas for Bio- diversity , containing concrete actions that can be performed individually or in a group. Over 200,000 copies have been distributed, mostly to families and schools. A folder containing a subset of 52 actions has been translat- ed into the six UN languages and all official languages of the EU. In the same way, a biodiversity actions suggestion tool for businesses is being developed, enabling com- panies to engage more easily with biodiversity efforts, reducing their impacts and making their infrastruc- ture, purchases and processes more sustainable. Also, a business and biodiversity strategy has been launched: #BeBiodi- versity with the objective of informing businesses and helping them to take voluntary steps to preserve biodiversi- ty and ecosystem services, as well as to give consumers the means to choose more biodiversity-friendly products and producers. The campaign towards consumers includes a website and several videos that explain the link be- tween consumption and threats to bio- diversity. These videos will be followed by a campaign targeting businesses and promoting the mainstreaming of biodiversity in their activities. Focusing on a similar audience, concrete actions have been organised to enhance cooperation with the pri- vate sector such as the establishment of a Green Deal for B@B; and with the health sector such as the training of nature coaches, and promoting wellness through the enjoyment of nature and forests. B elgium has made significant efforts to reach the Convention on Biological Diversity goals, and is presently implementing a wide range of actions in order to achieve the Aichi biodiversity targets. An important concern from the beginning was informing, educating and raising awareness on the importance of biodiversity and the various ways to contribute to its conservation as well as its sustainable and fair use. Taking action for biodiversity in Belgium Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) Belgium