Marjolijn Christianen has joined the National Thematic Committee on Biodiversity Research (NTBO), set up by NWO to connect biodiversity research more closely with policy and practice. Over the next year, its 13 members will write a national Roadmap for biodiversity research in the Netherlands. Her role is to make sure the ocean and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom have a firm place in it.
One national course for biodiversity research
The Roadmap will link research disciplines, knowledge questions from policy and practice, and national and international agendas. It will set direction for research priorities, collaboration, fieldwork organisation and future funding.
The committee has a partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature (LVVN), it will consult policymakers, civil society organisations, and the private and financial sectors. The Caribbean part of the Kingdom is included throughout, not as an annex. Roadmap delivery is planned for autumn 2027.
“Strengthening the link between biodiversity research and policy is important for the oceans and the Caribbean Netherlands.”
Why the seas and the Caribbean belong at the centre
Our seas and Caribbean Netherlands hold a large share of the Kingdom’s biodiversity. Yet biodiversity research in the Netherlands is still largely a terrestrial field. Marine systems are harder to observe and often end up in the margins of policy.
Our team works across that range. In the tropics the lab studies seagrass meadows, sea turtles and coral reefs. In the North Sea it works on oyster reefs and sand mason worm reefs. The group combines field and lab experiments with eDNA, underwater acoustics and autonomous monitoring, and develops indicators to measure biodiversity recovery.
That experience goes straight into the Roadmap and Marjolijn will pay particular attention to Bonaire, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten. Within the committee, she shares the ocean perspective with deep-sea ecologist Sabine Gollner (NIOZ).
Many disciplines, one goal
Bending the biodiversity curve takes more than ecology. The committee brings together ecologists and data scientists, but also economists, an environmental psychologist and a legal scholar. Members come from universities, universities of applied sciences, research institutes, Naturalis and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL).
Economic, legal and behavioural knowledge decides whether ecological insight turns into policy and action. Marjolijn looks forward to learning from these colleagues and to bringing marine knowledge into their fields.
What’s next
In the coming months the committee will consult researchers, policymakers and practitioners across the Kingdom. If you work on marine or Caribbean biodiversity and have views on what the Roadmap should prioritise, she would like to hear from you.
Read more about the committee, its assignment and its members on the NWO website.
