IPBES Netherlands Day - September 2025

On 18 September 2025 in The Hague, the NL-IPBES Day brought together policymakers, researchers and practitioners for a robust exchange on the newly released Nexus and Transformative Change assessment reports from IPBES, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

Co-organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature (LVVN), the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), IUCN Netherlands and the Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP), the event was a cross-disciplinary act itself. 

The event underscored the opportunity and urgency of embedding biodiversity across food, water, climate and health agendas. The assessments provide the in-depth evidence and options to do so. The use cases of the breakout sessions inspired how insights can be used and action can be taken, with roles for everyone. 

    1. Provide insights into two key IPBES Assessments alongside a wider understanding of the purpose and functions of this formal SPI.

    2. Anchor the science in real world situations, connecting across a set of NFP curated use cases.

    3. Encourage multi-actor, multi-sector and cross scale dialogue in a risk safe space indicating the potential for further collaboration towards transformative change.

    4. Encourage cross ministerial collaboration and policy development that breaks silos and enables transformative change.

  • The IPBES-NL Day took place over a single day in the Hague. 

    The morning plenary dived into the IPBES science-policy interface, the content of the assessments and youth perspectives, provoking rich discussions with the audience. The afternoon was structured in breakout sessions around six use cases - three grounded in the Dutch context, three focused on international development. The use case sessions inspired discussions on how to translate key insights into concrete steps for sustainable, nature-inclusive food, water, and land systems. The breakout sessions were followed by informal yet rich report backs, open conversation and a final wrap up.

    Convene moderated the full day, ensuring engagement, inclusive  interaction, and a focus on solutions. This was a good example of science-policy-society interfacing, brokered expertly by NFP.

  • The day was carefully documented, resulting in a short video shared with participants and amplified on social media