Just" conservation? Bridging values for equitable biodiversity governance

The protection of nature and reversal of biodiversity and ecosystem decline are core in the European Green Deal to support green recovery following Covid 19 and build societal resilience.

While critically important, it is not always clear however how the policies manifest on the ground where conservation actions actually take place.BridgingValues aims to contribute towards effective and equitable governance of biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES) by examining how EU conservation policies affect local socio-ecological contexts in diverse case studies in Europe (Germany, Spain, Sweden) and the Global South (Brazil, Laos, South Africa) – as well as their potential to produce contextual knowledge to inform EU and other international conservation policies.

Through the theoretical lens of social equity and IPBES ‘value plurality’ framework, BridgingVALUES will apply an innovative telecoupling approach to examine the material (finance and technical expertise) and immaterial (discourses and knowledge) flows associated with conservation policies on BES governance.

We believe that knowledge co-production with non-academic stakeholders is a necessary condition for transformative change to break from dominant paradigms.

In the Swedish Southern Öland World Heritage site, we will engage with Ölands Vattenråd, County Administrative Board, policy actors, local interest groups, activists, entrepreneurs, farmers and land owners to identify novel pathways for equitable BES governance.