The role of power in leveraging the diverse values of nature for transformative change

Arias-Arévalo, Paola; Lazos-Chavero, Elena; Monroy-Sais, Ana S; Nelson, Sara H; Pawlowska-Mainville, Agnieszka; Vatn, Arild; Cantú-Fernández, Mariana; Murali, Ranjini; Muraca, Barbara; Pascual, Unai

doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2023.101352

Cited by 20 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 56 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Defining the rules for decision-making has a strong impact on what values get to be represented in decision-making and in what form. In other words, institutions execute structural power [12,28,29]. For example, trading nature's values through markets requires value expressions in the form of prices (i.e.…”

Section: (B) How Values Influence Decision-makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Socio-cultural processes play an important role in this. Discursive power is crucial for the formation and transformation of values [3,12]. It also often influences which values become hegemonic [31], for example when applying conservation instruments [32].…”

Section: (B) How Values Influence Decision-makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Acknowledging, balancing and prioritizing across the plurality of values depend on how decision-making processes are instituted: to what extent different societal groups are involved, and how values can be expressed and considered when decisions are made [3,4]. Power relations are an important aspect of this, as the values prioritized tend to favour the interests of more powerful actors [3,12]. Hence, how to manage value pluralism (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Incorporating diverse values of nature in decision-making—theory and practice

Vatn,

Pascual,

Chaplin-Kramer

et al. 2024

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Values play a significant role in decision-making, especially regarding nature. Decisions impact people and nature in complex ways and understanding which values are prioritised, and which are left out is an important task for improving the equity and effectiveness of decision-making. Based on work done for the IPBES Values Assessment, this paper develops a framework to support analyses of how decision-making influences nature as well as whose values get prioritised. The framework is used to analyse key areas of environmental policy: a) the present model for nature protection in market economies, b) the role of valuation in bringing nature values into decisions, and c) values embedded in environmental policy instruments, exemplified by protected areas for nature conservation and payments for ecosystem services. The analyses show that environmental policies have been established as mere additions to decision-making structures that foster economic expansion, which undermines a wide range of nature's values. Moreover, environmental policies themselves are also focused on a limited set of nature's diverse values. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Bringing nature into decision-making’.

show abstract

Section: (B) How Values Influence Decision-makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: (B) How Values Influence Decision-makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Incorporating diverse values of nature in decision-making—theory and practice

Vatn,

Pascual,

Chaplin-Kramer

et al. 2024

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While dominant narratives are useful insofar as they may support broad social cohesion or can be easily translated into policy responses, they often reduce complexity and reinforce exclusive worldviews and values (Roe 1991 ). Disempowered or ‘othered’ landscape actors can still exert agency to counter oppressive institutional change logic by leveraging “counterhegemonic discourses” (Arias-Arévalo et al 2023 ). Q-methodology can uncover these distributional discourse geographies.…”

Section: Boundary Phenomenamentioning

confidence: 99%

Making Landscapes Negotiable: Q-methodology as a Boundary-Spanning and Empowering Diagnostic

Langston,

Ros-Tonen,

Reed

2024

Environmental Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Landscapes are conceptually fuzzy and rich, and subject to plural framings. They are places of inquiry and intervention for scientists and practitioners, but also concepts bound to peoples’ dynamic identities, knowledge systems, inspiration, and well-being. These varying interpretations change the way landscapes function and evolve. Developed in the 1930s, Q-methodology is increasingly recognized for being useful in documenting and interrogating environmental discourses. Yet its application in the context of how integrated landscape approaches better navigate land-use dilemmas is still in its infancy. Based on our experience and emerging literature, such as the papers in this special collection, this article discusses the value of Q-methodology in addressing landscape sustainability issues. Q-methodology helps unravel and communicate common and contradicting landscape imaginaries and narratives in translational and boundary-spanning ways, thus bridging actors’ different understandings of problems and solutions and revealing common or differentiated entry points for negotiating trade-offs between competing land uses. The methodology can be empowering for marginalized people by uncovering their views and aspirational values to decision-makers and policymakers. We argue that this potential can be further strengthened by using Q to identify counter-hegemonic discourses and alliances that combat injustices regarding whose knowledge and visions count. In this way, applying Q-methodology in integrated landscape approaches can become a key tool for transitioning toward just, inclusive, and sustainable landscapes.

show abstract

“…However, implementing this paradigm of conservation faces conceptual and practical challenges to be inclusive of deeply held worldviews, knowledge systems, and broad values (Raymond et al 2023). To date, public decision-making has largely prioritized subsets of nature 's values (e.g., market-based, individual, short-term instrumental values;Pascual et al 2023). Likewise, mainstream conservation has mostly used an ecocentric worldview and scientific knowledge to promote natural protected areas, which have focused on ecological considerations without accounting for (or at the expense of) Indigenous peoples and local communities (IP&LCs) and the cultures, histories, and identities they represent across a spectrum of geographical contexts (IPBES 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of religion in shaping the values of nature

Ives,

Kidwell,

Anderson

et al. 2024

E&S

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Environmental discourse frequently understands the values of nature as being instrumental, intrinsic, or relational and measured in biophysical, sociocultural, or monetary terms. Yet these specific values and value indicators are underpinned by worldviews, knowledge systems, and broad values that orient people towards nature in different ways and can be shared (or diverge) across spatiotemporal and social scales. The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Values Assessment emphasized the need for decision-making to embrace a plural-values approach that encompasses these diverse meanings of value to catalyze outcomes based on sustainability-aligned broad values like care, unity, reciprocity, and justice. Navigating these diverse values also highlights the salience of religion and its complexity in real-world scenarios as a force that shapes how people conceive the values of nature. For example, proposed modes of plural-value deliberation to reform institutions and shift social norms toward justice and sustainability need to be able to bridge sacred-secular policy divides. This article evaluates how religion interacts with nature's values by building upon reviews conducted for the IPBES Values Assessment. We present different conceptualizations of religion and explore how these relate to various understandings of social-ecological change. Further, we delineate how religion interacts with values based on three interrelated forms of agency: personal, social, and more-than-human processes. Upon this foundation, we discuss how to better engage religion in environmental policy and research, considering four modes of mobilizing sustainability-aligned values: (1) enabling, (2) including, (3) reflecting, and (4) shifting values and two analytical axes regarding religion's (1) social scale (individual versus collective) and (2) dynamic continuum (religion as stable versus changeable). Our assessment provides conceptual and practical tools to help consider religion in the processes and practices that shape, reinforce, or impede sustainability-aligned values for more inclusive and effective conservation decision-making.

show abstract

The role of power in leveraging the diverse values of nature for transformative change

Cited by 20 publications

References 56 publications

Incorporating diverse values of nature in decision-making—theory and practice

Incorporating diverse values of nature in decision-making—theory and practice

Making Landscapes Negotiable: Q-methodology as a Boundary-Spanning and Empowering Diagnostic

The role of religion in shaping the values of nature

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About