Franke van der Laan

MeerGroen was founded by ecologist Franke van der Laan, based in the Netherlands, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer. He studied ecology at the Vrije Universiteit (1980), after which he specialized in remote sensing and tropical agriculture.

After 25 years working for various international organizations, taking a top-down approach to implementing environmental policies and change, he became frustrated with the lack of progress due to bureaucracy and a focus only on the business side. This led him to the conclusion that the majority of humanity continues forward on a path of self-inflicted destruction, taking the value of ecology for granted.

However, Franke believes there is still plenty of optimism and energy and thus changed his approach to focus on bottom-up initiatives. The basic concept is that we can achieve anything once we put our minds to it. He tries to build the social, political and commercial momentum to connect bottom-up and top-down structures to achieve that.

Franke works, in his own words, “8 days a week, and everyday is a holiday!” He works tirelessly on the foundation’s projects every day with great determination and pleasure, “this is fun!”. He is also a great storyteller and a walking encyclopedia. Meeting him and hearing his story and ambition is an experience that leaves an impression.