Naturalis helps KPN to go green
Grass tiles, a green roof or fauna sensors; based on a number of guidelines, small structures can be transformed into a green oasis. Also KPN objects, such as a fiber neighborhood exchange.
Many organizations put sustainability, biodiversity and climate high on their list of priorities. As does KPN, which is currently rolling out fiber across the Netherlands. To find out how KPN can contribute to improving biodiversity, we asked the Naturalis Biodiversity Center for help with, for example, our fiber neighborhood exchange.
Consequently, KennisNatuurlijk! from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center developed a user-friendly yardstick that provides clear guidance on how to construct such an object in a nature-inclusive way. KPN will use this yardstick to achieve its first fully nature-inclusive fiber exchange next year, in Leiden.
The Yardstick for nature-inclusive construction of a fiber neighborhood exchange
Incidentally, the yardstick that’s been developed is more widely applicable, so not only for fiber exchanges and transformer houses. Any garage or shed in the back garden can also be converted into a green oasis on the basis of these guidelines. The KennisNatuurlijk! Team hopes that it will also inspire others to look at buildings through green-tinted glasses.
Groene Netten
KPN is part of Groene Netten, a partnership between eight major infrastructure managers in the Netherlands: Alliander, Enexis, Gasunie, KPN, ProRail, Rijkswaterstaat, Stedin and TenneT. They are jointly developing a National Ecological Infrastructure on much of the nearly 1,000 sq. km. of land managed by these parties. That acreage will serve as the basis for the Biodiversity Opportunities Map. The main aim is to maximize the area’s potential for enhancing both urban and rural biodiversity. The Vlinderstichting [Butterfly Foundation] and Naturalis are also helping to shape this plan.