M (Mendy) van der Vliet, MSc

As of February 2025 I am a PhD student on Nature-based Solutions embedded in the NL2120 program funded by the Dutch Growth Fund. This project is based on a long-term vision of the Netherlands in 100 years’ from now and focuses on the scaling of Nature-based Solutions (NbS). Although Nature-based solutions are considered important to increase climate resilience, biodiversity and sustainable prosperity, their implementation often remains fragmented and context-specific. There is a need for more knowledge of their effectiveness and their upscaling potential. My PhD will focus on this topic from both the biophysical (soil and water) and the governance domain, guided by Jasper Candel and Jakob Wallinga from the Soil Geography and Landscape Group and Wieke Pot from the Public Administration and Policy Group.  

I have a background in Earth Sciences (BSc at Free University Amsterdam) and Climate Physics (MSc at Utrecht University). I started my career as satellite data analyst at the startup VanderSat studying climate change in relation to agricultural applications. In the more recent years, working at Planet, my research focus shifted towards monitoring landscape restoration. For example, in the ESA project ‘Restore-IT’ we quantified the impact of Justdiggit’s interventions in Tanzania from space, in co-developed metrics such as the number of ‘liters of water retained’, ‘degrees cooling’ and changes in biomass (see publication).