Sander Jacobs

Coordinator

1. What is your job function in the Belgian Biodiversity Platform?

I am working part-time at the Platform. My main task is the coordination of the BEES (Belgian Ecosystem Services) community of
practice. BEES is an informal network which connects science, policy and practice on ecosystem services
and related topics in Belgium. We organise events, represent Belgium in international platforms and
mainly forge connections between the people involved. It’s a lot of fun, and there is a high demand for
this kind of informal collaboration.

2. What are the challenges you are facing?

A challenge is to tune the BEES desires to the budget and time resources. The Platform has a facilitating
role, so the BEES community actually works autonomously. In the coordination team, we constantly
need to look for the low hanging fruits: things which have highest use for the community and which are
feasible to do. But then again, there is so much more which could be done even better.

3. What about the future?

The BEES community of practice is growing and active, so the future looks good. The direct and
structural involvement of stakeholders in applied ecological research is becoming a standard practice.
Simultaneously, research is more and more aiming at tackling social-ecological problems, and
developing methods to include stakeholders. BEES is on the forefront of this, and becoming well known
internationally. Also, we are certainly looking at a broader picture then strictly the ecosystem service
concept. Anyhow, lots of things to think about and to do!