Organiser: Natuurpunt
Volunteers play an important role in nature conservation worldwide. Nature in Flanders is highly fragmented, generally in bad shape and situated in one of the most densely populated regions in Europe, resulting in a large human potential. Natuurpunt, Flanders’ leading nature conservation NGO, supported by 128 000 families, stands as a prime example of harnessing voluntary efforts for environmental stewardship. It unites citizens that support and defend nature and biodiversity aiming for a society in harmony with nature by 2050, but preferably earlier. Natuurpunt actively acquires land to set aside for nature conservation and restoration, currently 28 900 ha in 700 nature reserves (2.1% of Flanders surface). We use an all-encompassing bottom-up and volunteer driven approach to protect, restore, manage, study, educate and give a voice to nature and biodiversity.
While environmental quality and habitat fragmentation remain general issues, marked successes were booked as well in terms of habitat restoration and the return of endangered species. In 2023, almost 50 000 volunteers contributed actively, supported by 600 professionals. During this one year, volunteers spent 2 million hours managing nature. 7.5 million nature observations were collected in the online platform waarnemingen.be by 72 000 observers. 284 nature guides were trained and over 30 000 people followed a course or webinar to augment their knowledge on nature, biodiversity or environment. We welcomed over 440 000 visitors in our nature visitors centres and were mentioned 6 900 times in the press. Our volunteers interact with policy makers and companies on all levels to advocate for nature, by cooperation, education, influencing, negotiating and when needed, challenging them.
In this talk, we explore the Natuurpunt model, the keys to its success and the transferability to other regions and countries. We focus on a number of important campaigns such as nature restoration (wetlands, peatland restoration and reforestation but also nature conservation for all other habitat types), nature based solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change, international cooperation in projects, science and policy (mainly European projects), citizen science and monitoring (and the role of AI in quality control and involving the whole society) and successful policy examples. We highlight Natuurpunt’s approach to providing the necessary support for volunteers, our social role in society, youth engagement and our financial strategy.