Prof.dr. ir. Peter van Bodegom, professor of Environmental Biology at Leiden University and initiator of the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Center for Sustainability (LDE CfS) AgriFood Hub, has been awarded the Municipality of Westland's teaching assignment Circular International Horticultural Systems. On Thursday 24 March, Professor Van Bodegom will explain his teaching assignment 'Circular International Horticultural Systems' during a lecture.
The Dutch horticultural sector faces the challenge of being fully circular by 2030 and of also spreading its knowledge in this area worldwide. The World Horti Center (WHC) in Naaldwijk already functions from the heart of the Westland Horticulture cluster as a hub for global issues related to covered cultivation. The WHC has connections with more than 100 leading companies in the horticultural sector. The Municipality of Westland now wants to further strengthen these connections and accelerate the processes by offering Prof. Peter van Bodegom a teaching assignment. During this period he will deal with horticultural related issues.
Researching urgent challenges
Professor Van Bodegom is the initiator of the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Center for Sustainability (LDE CfS) AgriFood Hub. The hub brings together the unique knowledge of Leiden University, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam in a number of research lines related to a sustainable horticultural sector. The academic connection is made with the activities within the Learning Community WHC (LC) as part of the Greenport.
The resources made available by the Municipality of Westland for this teaching assignment and for the LC, make both an acceleration and a deepening of activities in this area possible. The core of Professor Van Bodegom's teaching assignment focuses on urgent challenges in understanding the effects of human influences on nature and biodiversity and society's needs for nature through natural capital and ecosystem services.
Within the teaching assignment that he will now carry out, the entire 'licence to produce' of greenhouse horticulture will be placed in an international framework. In essence, this is the starting point for the 'Feeding and Greening Megacities' ambition.
Contact
For more information about professor van Bodegom, the teaching assignment and the lecture, please contact:
Marga Vintges, Strategic Advisor Greenport of the Municipality of Westland, tel. 06-51342675, e-mail: mgmvintges@gemeentewestland.nl
Coen Hubers, coordinator LDE CfS Agrifood Hub LDE Centre for Sustainability, tel. 06-43182217, e-mail: c.g.w.hubers@tudelft.nl
