This June, the Veterinary Green Discussion Forum (VGDF) brought together people from across the veterinary profession with a shared commitment to working for a brighter future for animals, humans and the environment.
Hosted at a regenerative farm in the Camargue, one of France’s most biodiverse coastal regions, it was a chance to pause, reconnect with nature, and gather energy for the work ahead, while creating space for inspiration, collaboration, and bold new ideas.
WVEA hosted an interactive poster session, where we invited participants to share their ideas, experiences and vision for advancing in-clinic sustainability, on-farm sustainability, and the protection of biodiversity.
Using three “vision trees,” participants explored what success looks like and what it will take to get there. The trunk represented a shared goal, the roots captured the changes and actions needed to achieve it, and the branches and leaves painted a picture of the future we want to create together.
Despite the diversity of perspectives in the room, one message was remarkably consistent. Meaningful progress will require greater collaboration between countries and across clinical practice, industry, academia, government, and the communities we serve. The challenges we face are too complex for any one organisation, profession or country to solve alone.
For us, this reinforced exactly why WVEA exists. Our role is not to reinvent the excellent work already happening around the world, but to connect it. By bringing people together, highlighting existing initiatives, amplifying the voice of the veterinary profession and creating opportunities for collaboration, we can help accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable future.
The conversations at VGDF were filled with ideas just waiting to be set into action. There is a great deal of work ahead, but when we work together, the impact we can have as individuals is multiplied several fold.
