We want to give our guests something real

Transcription

1 We want to give our guests something real In connection with the national Bee Strategy, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is working together with Landal GreenParks for the benefit of bees. How did this remarkable partnership come to be? And what is Landal GreenParks doing for the bees? An interview with Tanja Roeleveld, Programme Manager for Sustainable & Engaged Entrepreneurship at Landal GreenParks, and Dick Jansen, General Manager at Landal Heihaas in Putten. In general terms, what is Landal GreenParks doing for bees, and what does that involve in practical terms? Tanja: Thirty-five to forty of our fifty parks in the Netherlands now feature insect hotels and butterfly gardens. Not only do these provide better facilitation for pollinator bees and other insects, but they are also a fun and informative conversation starter when it comes to telling our guests about bees and their important role. Nature education, we call it. What s more, every park has its own forest management plan. For these plans, we consider the nature surrounding the park and the best way to use it. A park on the coast should of course have different vegetation than one located in the inland hills of the Veluwe. This not only helps our guests experience the specific character of each region more fully, it also promotes diversity among pollinators. And what, specifically, are you doing here, at Landal Heihass in Putten? Dick: We wanted to do something to encourage biodiversity in our park, and after speaking with a forester and a beekeeper, Photograph of a common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum) - David Kleijn, Wageningen University & Research

2 among others, we started with bees. At the rear of our premises, we had a bee shed built and installed four hive boxes, each containing a colony of some 20,000 bees. Then, plants like butterfly bush and lavender were strategically placed to form a runway for the bees. The beekeeper now gives regular talks about bees. And we have already harvested our first jars of honey! Still, we want to do much more, in order to give our guests a real impetus to pitch in and help the bees when they get home as well. Tanja: Experiencing nature is one of the reasons our guests choose to come here. Our goal is also to help them discover what green surroundings can do: to give guests something real and meaningful, rather than some marketing gimmick. What is a bee? What are the differences between honeybees and wild bees? And what role do bees play? That s what we want to teach our guests so that they can look at their own gardens, and the possibilities there, in a new way as well. How did the partnership between Landal GreenParks and the Ministry of Economic Affairs begin? Tanja: Initially, I was approached by Economic Affairs in connection with the Food Waste theme. The idea was to see what kind of interventions we could come up with to combat food waste in households. Of course, for us here at Landal, that was an interesting question, too, in light of all the food that is left behind when our guests check out at the end of their stays. I was then invited by the programme manager for Making Policy Together (Samen in Beleid), a personal acquaintance of mine, to come talk about this partnership between Economic Affairs and Landal. In the course of that meeting, we established a plan to expand the collaboration to include the Bee Strategy. What does the relationship entail now, and how does Landal benefit? Tanja: We and Economic Affairs are now in the process of identifying our respective individual objectives and then considering where they overlap. The next step will be to formulate a study or project to which we can both contribute. That s something I truly believe in. Economic Affairs is helping us to add broader social and economic value. We can share our knowledge and expertise regarding bees and biodiversity, while also applying it further in our parks. And that will provide a better experience not only for our guests, but for the bees as well. Published by Ministry of Economic Affairs P.O. Box EK The Hague The Netherlands For further information Susanne Sütterlin at s.sutterlin@minez.nl Design and production: Xerox/OBT, The Hague

3 High time for a strategy on bees When things are going well for our bees, they re going well for our food production, nature and health as well. Unfortunately, bees and other pollinators are in decline worldwide, both in numbers and in number of species. In the Netherlands, in fact, over half of the wild bee species are in danger of extinction. In other words, it s time to take action. High time for a bee strategy. Things have been bad for bees, particularly honeybees, since 2010 really, says Susanne Sutterlin, Bee Strategy programme manager with the Directorate-General for Agro and Nature Policy. Entire colonies failed to survive the winter thanks to disease, infestations and potentially pesticides among other causes. And that wasn t just in the Netherlands, it happened worldwide. The rate of die-off was so alarming that the United Nations conducted an investigation. The high mortality in wintertime was one of the main reasons we at Economic Affairs decided to get involved. Then-Minister Dijksma organised a large conference in 2012, in which absolutely everyone beekeepers, scientists, government, businesses, social organisations, farmers and citizens was invited to come share their thoughts. As a result of that meeting, the Action Programme on Bee Health was born. And that action programme has borne fruit in the form of great initiatives from organisations such as the beekeepers associations, the herbicide industry and NGOs, among other things. The honeybee population is increasing once more. Wild bee species However, because the action programme focused primarily on the honeybees, in subsequent years the attention for wild bees and many other pollinators was rather lacking, says Photograph of an Andrena Haemorrhoa - Menno Reemer EIS, European Invertebrate Survey (EIS) The Netherlands

4 Hilde Engels, programme manager for Greening Food Consumption at Nature & Milieu. And the effect was evident: of the wild bee species in the Netherlands, 63 percent are currently in decline as a result of a shortage of nectar and pollen-rich plants and flowers, destruction of habitat and the use of pesticides. While of course various NGOs have launched programmes to turn the tide, it quickly became clear that an overarching strategy was needed and that it must include committed involvement from the sector, businesses and government. That led to the National Bee Strategy, which was announced by Minister Van Dam in January 2017 during the national Food Summit, Susanne Sutterlin says. And we have established it comprehensively, in cooperation with partners. After all, pollination is not only essential for many of our food crops, such as fruit and fruiting vegetables, but also for many plants found in nature. This is something we all must and want to work together to preserve. Which is why we need a strategy that will safeguard not only the continued survival of wild bees and honeybees, but the survival of all flower-visiting insects. And once again, the guiding principle is that, as a government, we can t and don t want to do it all on our own we will need the help of our partners to be successful. It s the Economic Affairs mission of making policy together put into practice! Small steps And so we already have fifteen organisations together who have pledged and I m quoting the draft of the Strategy here to promote biodiversity, improve the habitat of bees and create a better living environment for all pollinators in the Dutch agricultural setting, Hilde Engels explains. That begins with small steps. For instance: Natuur & Milieu (Foundation for Nature Conservation and Environmental Protection) has contacted horticultural schools to ask them to devote extra attention to pollinators; we organised a contest to find out which municipality in the Netherlands has the most bees; and I started a project in the Betuwe called De Fruitmotor. We pick up waste fruit (such as bruised or blemished apples) from growers and use it to make cider called Betuwse Krenkelaar. We sell the cider and give a portion of the proceeds back to the grower, with the understanding that it will be used to make their orchard more sustainable. This might include adding flower borders or stands of plants to serve as bee habitats. We started with a single grower, now we have four and soon there will be ten. And the great thing is that Hilde and all the others who come up with fantastic initiatives like this one then share their experiences with us during meetings organised by Economic Affairs, says Susanne Sutterlin. These are held at regular intervals, so participants can learn from one another and gain a bit of inspiration. And we, in turn, can ask about potential barriers that we at Economic Affairs might be able to help them overcome. It s our hope that in early January 2018, during a big meeting in The Hague to which we are inviting all partners, members of government and even our colleagues in Europe, we can officially put our signatures to the Bee Strategy. This strategy is intended to ensure that in 2030, all wild and kept bees are, in our words, sustainably maintained and effectively promoted. Left: Susanne Sütterlin, Ministry of Economic Affairs Right: Hilde Engels, Natuur & Milieu

5 Natural vegetation in verges attracts bees Through sustainable verge management, Rijkswaterstaat (RWS) hopes to create roadside verges that reflect the natural flora and fauna of the surrounding area. The verge must provide drivers with a safe overview of the motorway and be in keeping with the landscape, explains Peter-Jan Keizer, a nature and landscaping adviser with RWS. But the verge has a role to play in nature development, too. We want to provide everything that lives in it with a proper habitat. RWS disposes of mown grass clippings, for instance, in the interest of both traffic and nature. By disposing of the grass clippings, we make the soil less fertile, which prevents fast-growing plants like blackberries, stinging nettles and certain types of grass from spreading out and taking over, edging out the other species, Keizer explains. It also makes it easier for sunlight to reach the soil, allowing all kinds of seeds to germinate. In this way, we can promote the growth of as many species of plant those that belong in the area surrounding that particular motorway as possible. At the same time, we prevent grass clippings from ending up on the road and create a firm substrate. Good for bees and other insects Through this kind of sustainable verge management, RWS is stimulating the native flowering vegetation and the corresponding insect world. RWS is cautious when it comes to sowing bee feed mixes, until more is known about how this affects the Photograph of European honey bee Peter van Tilburg,

6 original insect population and whether the insects drawn to the profusion of blooms can survive the flow of traffic. Keizer: It s something we re talking to experts about. Recent studies from Wageningen University & Research have shown that richer vegetation also attracts bees and other insects. Scientists in Germany are currently looking into the effect of bee mixes in the verges, studying the diversity of insect species and their odds of survival, among other things. We receive requests to sow bee-attracting seed mixtures on a regular basis. At the moment, we oblige those requests only at specific locations, such as around car parks. We ve planted a bee meadow outside our offices in Utrecht as well. According to Keizer, sustainable verge management ties in with the Ministry of Economic Affairs policy, which is centred around encouraging native vegetation. While we are eager to increase sustainability, as an implementing organisation we must take costs, traffic safety and feasibility into account. This does not diminish the fact that, in the future, Keizer is hoping to use the management of verges and ecoducts to respond to the effects of climate change. In future, plant and animal species will shift their ranges further north. Verges and ecoducts will allow us to facilitate the distribution of species across our landscape. EZ and RWS are joining forces to increase sustainability One part of the verge policy involves the sustainable disposal of grass clippings. Currently, grass is being transformed into compost. In order to find a more cost-effective and economically attractive use for the grass, sustainable alternatives including cardboard production are being explored. Published by Deze Ministry flyer of is Economic een uitgave Affairs van: P.O. Box EK The Hague The Netherlands Rijksoverheid Postbus aa Den Haag For t 0800 further information 51 (ma t/m vrij uur) Susanne Sütterlin at s.sutterlin@minez.nl Juni Design 2008 and Publicatie-nr. production: Xerox/OBT, ac The Hague