In the last years, european youth are increasingly mobilised for biodiversity, with the creation of the European chapter of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network, the Biodiversity Working Group of Generation Climate Europe, and the Biodiversity Call for Action by Biodiversity Action Europe (2020) that has been supported by over 50 organisations. Youth are key stakeholders in biodiversity, and our voices need to be heard. The youth biodiversity movement in Europe is highly ambitious and impact-driven.

Back in December 2019, in the framework of the preparation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020, the European Commission Directorate General for Environment (DG ENV) organised a 3-days workshop to collect youth perspectives on biodiversity-related policies. Youth representatives of national or European initiatives for the environment were invited, alongside young researchers in biodiversity met for the workshop in Brussels.

The outcome of the event were (1) the creation of a Youth Manifesto for biodiversity, (2) the decision to create a long lasting network of representatives of the initiatives and consequently (3) the creation of Biodiversity Action Europe (BAE). The Call for Action for biodiversity was published in May 2020, and we collected the support of over 650 signatures and over 50 organisations. The call for action was symbolically handed over to DG ENV during an event organised by BAE at the EU Green Week 2020.

Since then, Biodiversity Action Europe continues to maintain the network of youth-led initiatives for biodiversity throughout Europe, notably through our BAE Umbrella project, as well as other partnerships and events.