WEAVING FOR A THRIVING PLANET System Change BeeOdiveristy believes it is no longer useful to find the responsible ones for pollution, global warming, and the disappearance of biodiversity. Instead, the initiative is convinced it is time to develop solutions and tools, allowing people to act at their individual scale. Through its actions, BeeOdiveristy attempts to play a part in this. Frame Change: Mindset Shift Focus BeeOdiveristy considers itself social entrepreneurs who are aware that a sustainable system can only be sustainable if it integrates people, the environment and the economy on an equal footing. It believes society should understand the environmental - and economic sectors together rather than as two separate entities. This initiative aims to shift peoples’ mindsets and make them realize that value can be created while preserving and enhancing biodiversity. Additionally, it intends to recreate the link between - unfortunately - separated sectors. Community-based Approach BeeOdiversity is a fierce believer that everyone can be part of the solution. Therefore, the initiative strongly promotes collaborative models and gathers various stakeholders such as local businesses, multinationals, public bodies, farmers, scientists, citizens, and other community members for concerted action and lasting change. BeeOdiveristy wishes to preserve and regenerate the environment by taking all stakeholders’ perspectives and challenges into account, thus truly cocreating a shared vision on how to improve the environment. For most of these sites, BeeOdiversity suggests improvement actions to clients that BeeOdiversity also implements or that they implement via a local partner (e.g. local NGO, etc). They directly work for example with tens of farmers per year to change their practices and our food business clients define new practices based on our results which are in turn applied by a much higher amount of producers. Results (directly or indirectly via communication campaigns managed by our clients) are shared with thousands of local stakeholders (Municipality, local NGOs, citizens, farmers, beekeepers, etc) and raise awareness regarding the improvement actions to be taken according to the monitoring results. For example, we BeeOdiversity provides seeds to more than 30.000 households per year. Communication of results also raise awareness towards clients’ employees which are companies of thousands of workers. Scaling & Replication Scaling & Replication Strategy: BeeOdiversity’s approach believes that more than replication, its model needed adaption to increase their impact. This has currently led them to work on a continuum “Bees - Pollinators - Natural Biodiversity - Food - Human Health” in order to reach each stakeholder, and give them the opportunity to act at their own scale. Scaling & Replication History: Today, BeeOdiversity guides companies and public authorities across 11 countries to establish strategies and develop environmental projects that have an added value for the territory, the partners, and its stakeholders BeeOdiversity is currently working in Belgium, France, USA, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Spain, Holland, Austria and has developed tools and methodologies that allow the replication of its projects everywhere. They work with +80 clients which are large corporates or cities/regions/Municipalities and they monitor more than +100 sites per year of 700ha each. Scaling Interest: BeeOdiversity will probably launch a monitor program for beekeepers as from 2022 which could involve hundreds/ thousands of them. They are also about to launch an app that will help citizens to act locally for biodiversity. Objective is to provide information to thousands of citizens. BeeOdiversity is also trying to launch an AI web platform with Microsoft and Accenture to provide very scalable information to thousands of Municipalities and Corporates. Scaling & Replication Needs: More partnerships and collaborations, more innovative models and tools to improve our environment while responding to the expectations and evolution of our society. Challenges BeeOdiversity’s main challenge is the difficulty of impacting quickly, sustainably and on a large scale while taking into account local specificities (different environment and climate, different stakeholders, different cultures, etc.). But as Ashoka Fellows we have the solution: Think global - Act local. The union of 15 Fellows from different horizons around a single project “Weaving for a Thriving Planet” is a real opportunity to mutualize and multiply exponentially our impact. 49
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