Place-based stewardship and active citizens play important role in biodiversity protection

Traditionally, governments and nature organisations in many European countries, including the Netherlands, have seen nature conservation as a primarily governmental and professional responsibility, which is serving society but is practised through professionals. Over the years, Buijs, associate professor at FNP, has shown that civil society in fact also plays an essential role in biodiversity protection and strengthening human-nature relationships. Buijs works with local groups to increase the impact of their contribution and link them to professional organisations and governments. He is a recognised expert in active citizenship and bridging formal and informal conservation practices and actors. 

Through active citizenship groups, citizens can regain an active role and make contributions to their environment. Often, citizenship groups link environmental causes – such as urban green spaces and biodiversity protection – to societal benefits such as empowerment and social cohesion. An example of a green citizen initiative is Tiny Forest, a project of the Dutch Institute for Nature Education (IVN), with the aim of planting small forests in cities. Such tiny forests contribute to city climate regulation and biodiversity and provide an essential role in nature education for children living in cities, who often do not have access to nature areas. Buijs was recently interviewed about Tiny Forest for TO2MORROW magazine, which compiles applied research projects commissioned by all Dutch ministries and is read by policy makers and practitioners.

Local citizen contributions with national relevance
 
Buijs has been making societal impact related to active citizenship through three pathways. The first of these is to build an evidence base for the benefits of active citizenship. While previously dismissed as marginal, Buijs has shown over the past 15 years that active citizen groups have more impact than is often assumed. This would not come as a surprise to those familiar with the Sustainable 100. Starting in 2009, the Sustainable 100 is a nationally renowned award, organised yearly by the newspaper Trouw, to recognise the efforts of sustainability pioneers in the Netherlands. Since 2019, the emphasis of the competition has shifted to specifically highlight citizen initiatives that have had the most impact on society. During this shift, Buijs was asked by Trouw to contribute to developing new selection criteria and he subsequently served as an expert member on the jury from 2020 to 2024. During those years, the Sustainable 100 created a national spotlight for many citizen initiatives. The competition, with its large number of entries, supports Buijs’ findings that citizen initiatives create significant engagement in society and have considerable potential to contribute to the transition to a more sustainable society.  

The evidence base compiled by Buijs has furthermore impacted national policy documents to recognise and include contributions of citizens and other non-professional stakeholders to nature conservation, especially through his work for the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature. A recent example of this is a recent essay by PBL on societal support for nature management in the Netherlands, which refers to several of Buijs’ publications that show the importance of active citizenship. Marjolein Kloek and Thomas Mattijssen, PhD graduates supervised by Buijs, have made significant contributions to this evidence base. Both went on to work with citizen and stakeholder involvement, respectively at governmental forestry organisation Staatsbosbeheer and Wageningen Social and Economic Research, making their own impact through those institutions.

This evidence base allowed Buijs to help put active citizenship on the agenda of policy makers and sensitise governments and nature organisations for citizen contributions, which is a second pathway of his societal impact. Buijs made professional organisations aware of the relevance and practices of active citizens for nature conservation and biodiversity protection. One role through which he does this, is as a member of the scientific advisory committee of Dutch nature conservation organisation Natuurmonumenten. 

Fostering collaboration between governments and citizens

As a third pathway, Buijs has been developing and communicating practical approaches to collaboration between governments and active citizens. He noticed that due to a lack of coordination between different citizen groups, and between citizen groups and governments, often the full potential for impact was not reached. To overcome this, he developed the mosaic governance model, based on insights from urban planners, local governments and citizen group participants. Mosaic governance is a way of working for governments – especially municipalities – to develop trust and long-term relationships and collaborations with the diversity of non-state actors in a city. Mosaic governance policies can consist of several interrelated instruments, such as subsidy schemes for active citizens, communities of practice, lease of land, or recognition of local grassroots initiatives on the municipal website. This helps citizen groups to increase their impact, while local governments can derive maximum benefit from the efforts of citizen groups. Buijs and his team have been working together with municipalities in the EU (such as Den Bosch, Utrecht, and Malmö) and Latin America (such as Buenos Aires) to implement mosaic governance to support grassroots projects for nature-based solutions and green urban infrastructure. A recent article about the project in Den Bosch can be read here.

Arjen Buijs is a scientist engaged with society and has highlighted the valuable role of active citizenship in biodiversity protection and nature conservation. His work has influenced national policies and professional organisations to recognise and include citizen contributions, and continues to foster collaboration, for example through the development of the mosaic governance model. Currently, Buijs continues to further develop mosaic governance approaches, for example in the NATURO project, which aims to strengthen inclusion of marginalised groups in decision-making processes for urban greening. In addition, he has recently published a paper which details 30 years of citizen engagement in nature conservation policies in the Netherlands. 

- Compiled and written by Jelte Vredenbregt