Naturalis and Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn are working together to share knowledge about the importance of biodiversity with a wide audience. Over the next few years, they will also collaborate on research into biodiversity. Maaike van de Kamp-Romijn, Director of Research and Education at Naturalis, emphasizes the great scientific importance of the collaboration. "Albert Heijn is extremely interested in biomonitoring and this is a great strength of Naturalis. Albert Heijn works with a fixed network of farmers and growers and is therefore very close to nature in the Netherlands and the surrounding area. By joining forces, we can have substantial impact."
Partnerinvolved
Albert Heijn is the oldest existing supermarket chain in the Netherlands and the company strives to do better every day: in their supermarkets for their customers, as an employer to their 100,000+ staff and of course, for society as a whole. For this reason, they actively address major issues such as better nutrition and lifestyle, health, prevention of food waste, reduction of packaging, recycling, chain transparency and climate.
Ourhistory
Albert Heijn and the Naturalis Biodiversity Center have worked together since 2015. The partnership started with educational activities for consumers, with promotional campaigns such as Adventures With Freek (2015), Back to the Dinosaurs (2016), Discover the Wonders of our World (2017), TOP Insects (2019) and Vegetable Garden Friends (2021). In February 2020, Albert Heijn and Naturalis also agreed a five-year partnership as part of which the supermarket chain will sponsor a PhD candidate to conduct research into biodiversity within Naturalis.
Whywork together?
Naturalis and Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn are working together to share knowledge about the importance of biodiversity with a wide audience. These promotional campaigns allow us to reach millions of Dutch people in a highly accessible manner and we will also work together to conduct research. For example, young researcher Auke-Florian Hiemstra is researching soil biodiversity at the premises of Albert Heijn's farmers and growers. In the fields, he monitors the number of species in mole nests, while on the banks of streams, he is investigating coot nests. He is particularly interested in how plastic is used for nest building. Furthermore, the scientists at Naturalis share knowledge in order to improve biodiversity in the chain. Anita Scholte op Reimer, Director of Quality and Sustainability at Albert Heijn, is very enthusiastic about the collaboration. "In the Netherlands, awareness of biodiversity is rising all the time. For this reason, we are setting up bee hotels, sowing crops in field margins and making biodiversity agreements with our farmers and growers. It is important to us that Naturalis is able to conduct more research into biodiversity and we also benefit from having an expert partner in this field and access to in-depth knowledge of biodiversity."
Moreinformation
For more information about this partnership, you can contact Corine van Impelen via corine.vanimpelen@naturalis.nl.