In this Smart Forests Radio episode, we invite Arthur Eijs, a
policy
advisor on Natural Resources at the Ministry for Infrastructure &
Water
Management in the Netherlands. Formerly, he oversaw strategy, pilot projects, and economic incentives on
biodiversity
at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, and served as a member of the Dutch CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) delegation.
During the interview, conducted in June 2023, Arthur delves into a biodiversity project he initiated about Verified
Conservation
Areas, or the VCA
platform
. This digital infrastructure aimed to transparently verify biodiversity
restoration
and conservation efforts, enabling both larger companies and local grassroots initiatives to declare their contributions. Arthur elaborates on his ideas behind this initiative and the challenges encountered in securing
funding
. He also shares fascinating insights into the background of European funding strategies for biodiversity and the issues arising from the multitude of emerging digital platforms and stakeholders. Although the VCA platform is currently discontinued, information about the projects involved can be found via the website of the Convention on Biological Diversity on their new Nature Commitments Platform.
Interviewer: Michelle Westerlaken
Producer: Harry Murdoch
Listen on Apple and Spotify.
Language note: This interview takes place in Dutch.
This radio episode was produced by the Smart Forests project funded by the European Research Council. Smart Forests is led by Professor Jennifer Gabrys and is based in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge.
Header image: Image of the Nature Commitments Platform, retrieved on 23 April 2024, from https://naturecommitments.org/
Smart Forests Atlas materials are free to use for non-commercial purposes (with attribution) under a
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
To cite this radio episode:
Eijs, Arthur and Michelle Westerlaken "Arthur Eijs: Verified Conservation Areas and the Nature Commitment Platform", Smart Forests Atlas (2024), https://atlas.smartforests.net/en/radio/arthur-eijs. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12721918.