habiversum

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In one or more decommissioned and repurposed NS double-decker railway carriages, butterflies are bred in symbiosis with their host and nectar plants. Habiversum is conceived as a platform for the exchange of knowledge, experiences, and ideas.

Due to climate change, urbanisation, monocultures, and insecticides, global insect populations have declined by an average of seventy percent over the past twenty years. Butterflies -the most ?embraceable? of insects- voice their silent alarm here in stark contrast to the mechanical surroundings.

However fragile they may be, some species, such as the painted lady, migrate within weeks from the Netherlands to southern regions like Spain and France. Other rare populations are assisted by transporting them by train to more suitable habitats. The butterfly also embodies transformation: from egg to caterpillar, from chrysalis to a winged flower.

It symbolises love, happiness, beauty, and above all delicate transience and its fragility. The transformation urgently required of the world is inseparable from our own behaviour - and vice versa. In collaboration with students from Wageningen University, within the framework of the Academic Consultancy Training (ACT) programme, the feasibility of realisation was examined. Following thorough research, the recommendation was made to breed exclusively native, rare butterfly species within a carefully composed biotope.

With special thanks to: Erna Oova en Helen Nieuweboer (RWS); Inge Wallage en studenten van de Wageningen Universiteit (WUR/ACT).

Publication Rijkswaterstaat:

habiversum

butterfly platform