Our areas of action towards a living watershed
We are working toward a living watershed, one in which relationships matter more than returns. Where mutual resilience grows through interconnection. Where the restoration of landscape, community, past, and future are all intertwined.
We do this by working on five lines of action within a broad and growing movement. These lines of action were developed together with older and younger people, farmers, artists, people with a migration background, researchers, and others from across the watershed. With this expanding movement, we celebrate both old and new cultures in our watershed, promote agro-ecological production within a community-based economy, work toward a healthy and toxin-free community, and learn from other regions.
We see the rebuilding of affective relationships as the foundation for caring for our environment and for one another. That is why we focus on ‘scaling deep’: our primary goal is a cultural transformation that supports the wellbeing of current and future generations.
In this way, we create a counterbalance to the growing alienation and hardening within society. And together, we offer responses to the challenges of water, biodiversity, and climate, as well as to our economic and cultural challenges.
Area 1: Experience
We are getting to know the watershed again, so that we may learn to care for her once more.
We are rediscovering the history, qualities, ecology, and cultures of the Watershed. We share these through stories, journeys, and experiences. In doing so, we strengthen our relationship with her. We see the Watershed as a living landscape—one we are learning to care for again, so that she can continue to care for us in the future.
Area 2: Economy
We are shaping a regional, community-driven economy
If you look closely, you’ll see that the Watershed is already full of pioneering enterprises and collaborations working toward a healthy regional economy in which residents are actively involved, such as Community Supported Agriculture. We are eager to contribute to building a regional community-based economy. . In a field lab with the Province of Gelderland, the StreekWaar association, Wageningen Research, Land & Co, Mas Newen, Cultivate!, and others, we facilitate collaboration in agroecological production, processing, distribution, and financing, in order to create and retain more value for a resilient and autonomous Watershed. Through this, we enhance biodiversity and improve the soil’s sponge function in the Watershed, weaving together nature and agriculture.
Area 3: Health
We are working toward a toxin-free community and a healthy, thriving watershed
We are experiencing increasing drought in the South Veluwe Watershed, with its extensive sandy soils. The soil and water are heavily polluted, while insect populations, especially bees, are disappearing. That is why we stand against the pollution and depletion of water, land, and all living beings. We work to ensure that the water and soil are full of life again, so that biodiversity can flourish once more. We care for the health of our water bodies and our underground aquifer, and we are becoming more resilient to wildfires and climate extremes. In doing so, we strive for a healthy and toxin-free watershed.
Area 4: Community
We host regular gatherings to foster strong connections within a lively movement.
We bring people together and share food and stories. In times of alienation, we find one another again in a strong, diverse, and connected community.
Area 5: Exchange
We learn with and from other regions and cultures
We exchange experiences with other regions in the Netherlands, Europe, and across the world. In this way, we learn what works and what does not, and we build a powerful movement for more life. We are part of several networks in which this exchange takes place. We cherish our relationships with regions elsewhere in the Netherlands and in countries such as Spain, Ireland, Romania, Chile, Ghana, and Colombia.