Towards more biodiversity
(24-11-2022) A 'green entrance', a new patch of garden on Campus Coupure and a de-hardened car park on Campus Gontrode: these are just some of the actions we are using to make our campuses greener.
In the past year, some car parks on Campus Coupure gave way to a new piece of campus garden. The car park of campus Gontrode also received a green makeover.
In addition, the proposal to soften and green-blue the forecourt and space around Block A was also recently approved. That proposal is one of the 14 laureates of the Flemish project call Goenblauwe parels and was drawn up by the Ekkergem neighbourhood committee. The concrete elaboration of the plans for the area around block A will be done in a participative manner. In this way, different perspectives can be reconciled.
Plans of the university and beyond
With these interventions, we want to bring more biodiversity into our environment. UGent will also take actions to achieve this. These are described in the biodiversity plan 2020-2030, in which our faculty plays an active role.
Biodiversity is also on the agenda at a higher level. As faculty, we are part of the Association for Life Sciences Universities (ICA). In a letter published following the COP15 biodiversity conference, the board of universities within this network urges us to do more work to stem further biodiversity loss.