Dutch National Committee of IUCN

IUCN NL is the National Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world’s largest and most diverse network for nature conservation. We represent IUCN in the Netherlands and, as an administrative and independent nature organisation, contribute to IUCN’s international strategy. In doing so, we work closely with other IUCN units, partner organisations and IUCN members in the Netherlands.  

Photo: The Green Debate in 2022 © Rafael Martig  

IUCN members in the Netherlands  

IUCN NL forms IUCN’s Dutch National Committee, or platform of member organisations in the Netherlands. IUCN currently has 37 members in the Netherlands, including nature organisations, scientific institutes and the Dutch government. Twice a year, we bring our members together at a Meeting of Participants to discuss developments in and visions for Dutch nature. Besides those official meetings, we also facilitate smaller collaborations and exchanges between members.  

Together with our members  

IUCN NL also works together with these organisations on the conservation and restoration of nature and biodiversity, both in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the world. We do this, for example, in the field of policy development, where we advise policymakers on better policy for nature from a factual and solution-oriented approach. We also work together with one or more IUCN members in many of our projects.  

Become an IUCN member

As a member of IUCN, you will have access to the vast amount of knowledge and expertise on everything related to nature and biodiversity. In addition, your organisation becomes part of a global network and gains access to high-level political, economic and social decision-making.  

IUCN knowledge products

IUCN is the global authority on nature and the actions needed to protect it. To this end, IUCN develops reliable, global standards, guidelines and best practices for nature conservation, which are used by members around the world and form the basis for international policy on nature and biodiversity.  

IUCN NL uses the IUCN knowledge products for our projects and informs and advises members, governments and other stakeholders on the correct use of the standards and definitions IUCN has drawn up.  

Some of IUCN’s knowledge products include:

• The Red List of Threatened Species is the most comprehensive and widely used source of information on the status of animal and plant species.  
• The Species Threat Abatement and Recovery (STAR) method measures how much a given action contributes locally to the extinction risk of species. This method was co-developed by IUCN NL.  
• The IUCN Global Standard for nature-based solutions checks whether the nature-based solution applied will make a positive contribution to addressing one of the following goals: climate change, disaster risk reduction, ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss, food security, public health, social and economic development and water security.