Case Studies

Utrecht University has mapped its biodiversity footprint to investigate the impact of its activities on nature and species diversity. Thanks to this measurement, the university now know exactly where they can make the most impact and where their efforts will make the most difference. Utrecht University are generating more and more of their own energy sustainably. The default catering option is already vegetarian. By using less animal protein and chocolate, the footprint can be reduced even further. The ambition for 2030 is clear: to reduce UU's biodiversity footprint by at least 35%. In the long term, Utrecht University want to help restore what they influence.

As part of its commitment to environmental sustainability and the Nature Positive Pledge, the University of Aveiro has developed an online platform that acts as an 'open book' of the university's natural heritage. UAnature provides a scientifically validated and accessible inventory of biodiversity and geodiversity across all UAveiro campuses. It currently documents 69 animal species, 192 plant species, 44 fungi and igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. Each species or rock type has a dedicated profile with a description, geolocation and photographs. UNature allows users to explore the interaction between built, landscaped and natural areas, and their contribution to nature conservation. Designed as a dynamic tool, it is continuously updated with scientifically validated data to support the identification of threatened species and the development of protection measures. The platform encourages citizen engagement and offers valuable resources for research and teaching, thereby enhancing environmental literacy and strengthening UAveiro’s positive impact on nature.

To establish how the University of Oxford's Colleges are utilised by nature, biodiversity audits were conducted in the summer of 2021 and the summer of 2022. The results of this data collection, which was carried out by staff and students, show college land cover and the species detected in them, including hundreds of insect and tree species, threatened bird species, and species providing essential ecosystem services such as pollination and nutrient cycling. Biodiversity baselines are critical for biodiversity goal setting for colleges and the Conference of Colleges, providing information on how colleges support biodiversity across different groups, and opportunities for comparison with future audits.

In June 2024, The University Santiago de Cali (USC) became a strategic ally of the Cauca River Collective, hoping to develop activities that will consolidate the project as a management and governance model for the recovery of the water source. The Collective is a group of institutions dedicated to the recovery of the upper basin of the Cauca River, promoting its long-term sustainability. The strategic lines of the recovery plan include reducing pollution through the implementation of secondary treatment at the Cañaveralejo Wastewater Treatment Plant, the southern Cali drainage system, control of point and diffuse pollution in the Cauca River, the circular economy of water, and the use and transformation of Drinking Water Treatment Plants. They aim to keep records of knowledge, seek international alliances within the framework and contribute to financing the construction of the wastewater treatment plant, and also support efforts to decontaminate the Cauca River. They hope to aid the recovery of the biodiversity that characterised the area historically.

UC Berkeley is an affiliate of Bee Campus USA, an initiative of the Xerces Society that aims to foster ongoing dialogue to raise awareness of the role pollinators play in our communities and how each of us can take action to create healthy habitat. This student-run initiative has implemented two pollinator gardens and held several volunteer landscaping workdays with campus operations.

Université de Bejaia supported a Master's degree, completed by two students which focused on the Nature Positive Universities approach for the protection of biodiversity on the Targa Ouzemmour campus. The analysis concluded that a large part of the campus had been heavily modified and only a small part remained in its original natural state. It was concluded that the faunal diversity was significantly richer in the natural segment. To this end, the university have proposed an action plan which will be carried out in the field with the students to restore ecosystems closer to a natural state. This initiative will be expanded in the future to ten other universities in Algeria.

In 2020, for the first time since being laid in 1772, a section of a King’s College lawn the size of just half a football pitch was not mown and instead, it was transformed into a colourful wildflower meadow filled with poppies, cornflowers and oxeye daisies. The following year other plants emerged: the area was morphing into a traditional East Anglian hay meadow. In a study led by Dr Cicely Marshall, a researcher at King’s College and the University of Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences, the effects of this change have been monitored and it was found that the meadow was strikingly beneficial for biodiversity: increasing numbers of bats, insects, plant species and reducing the city heat island effect.

Biodiversity on the Royal Holloway Campus has long been of interest for informing grounds management and academic pursuit. Studies have been conducted in numerous areas related to biodiversity, including to inform the Campus Development Masterplan and associated planning submissions. Since 2023, biodiversity data has been systematically recorded, independent of specific development proposals, to help understand long-term patterns and inform future enhancements. Royal Holloway has been working with Surrey Wildlife Trust on developing a more complete record and locally informed understanding of biodiversity on campus. This work has included the formation a Habitat Audit that establishes a baseline of biodiversity on campus and indicators to assess future progression. The data also helps address the Biodiversity Net Gain requirements of the town planning system and contributes to an ongoing review of the Habitat Management Plan for the campus.

In 2022 works took place at several ponds across Nottingham Trent University’s (NTU) Brackenhurst Campus to improve their ecological value for the campus’s great crested newt population. The works will not only increase the ecological value for newts but will also support the vast amount of flora and fauna hosted at NTU’s rural Brackenhurst Campus. Ponds provide a habitat for many aquatic plants and insects which, in turn, will encourage insectivorous species such as amphibians, birds hedgehogs and bats.

Beginning this project in 2011, the National University of Juju is aiding the repopulation of vicuñas, a type of wild camelid living in the altiplano of the Andes, in areas of indigenous communities that have subsistence economies. The vicuñas have one of the finest fibres in the world which condemned them to risk of extinction by hunting in the middle of the 20th century. After decades of conservation, the university’s project aims to rescue the pre-Hispanic practice of using them with Chakus, an ancestral capture technique to shear their fibre and then release them back into nature. Performing this ancient capture technique relies on transcultural and productive dialogues between scientists, students and local indigenous people in order to succeed. Through this practice, vicuñas have been conserved through sustainable use, students are being involved in working with the native animals through ancestral techniques as well as teaching students the importance of intercultural knowledge dialogue for working with local communities. This project was highly commended in the Student Engagement category of the International Green Gowns Award 2019.