Thursday June 3 2010 / Citizenship
Investing in Biodiversity
The first debate in the series Choose or Lose was entitled Investing in Biodiversity.
The Taskforce Biodiversity went into discussion with political parties about their plans and intentions regarding biodiversity and sustainability. What difference can politics and Taskforce Biodiversity make?
The world of industry and commerce will also be involved in these questions. Businesses are very motivated to implement sustainability and biodiversity in their business plans, but how will the state facilitate the transition to a society that will reduce the exploitation of and dependence on our natural (energy) resources? Combining economics and biodiversity in a smart way is the only chance to achieve economic recovery in a responsible and sustainable way.
How is it possible then that this urgent theme receives so little attention? Or in the words of Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the UN: "Conserving biodiversity cannot be an afterthought once other objectives are addressed - it is the foundation on which many of these objectives are built".
Taskforce Biodiversity & Natural Sources seek the best methods to preserve biodiversity and sustainable natural resources. How can we work on these topics and how do we involve Dutch society?
Taskforce Chairman Hans Alders opened the night. Guests: Jan Ernst de Groot (managing director KLM), Joost Oorthuizen (director Initiative Sustainable Trade) and a respresentative of the younger generation.
They posed their questions to several representatives from political parties: Liesbeth van Tongeren (Candidate MP for GroenLinks), Esther Ouwehand (MP for Partij voor de Dieren/Party for the Animals), Helma Neppérus (MP for VVD), Martine Vonk (CU), Maas Goote (D66), Marieke van der Werf (CDA), Paulus Jansen (SP).
Moderator: Sandra Rottenberg.
The next debates in this series: 7 September, 16 November 2010 and 18 January 2011.
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