Blog | Empowering change: accelerating transformative action through stakeholder workshops
We in the BIONEXT project explore options on how to initiate, accelerate and upscale biodiversity-relevant transformative change in society. Through an iterative process of knowledge co-production, we BIONEXT researchers collaborate with a diverse group of stakeholders in four workshops to design desirable futures and multiple just transition pathways. But what methodologies are used in the workshops to produce broadly supported and actionable policy options to tackle both the indirect and direct drivers of biodiversity loss?
Workshop principles
Biodiversity is crucial for ecosystems and the benefits they provide us. Yet, human activities are causing widespread biodiversity loss. To tackle this challenge effectively, we need a better understanding and new ideas for change. However, what is considered desirable change and identifying appropriate strategies to achieve change differs among stakeholders.
Therefore, stakeholders are invited to participate in the BIONEXT workshop series to capture plural knowledges, ideas, and concerns. Participants have been carefully selected based on their diverse expertise across the biodiversity nexus, encompassing biodiversity, food, water, health, transport, energy, and climate change. They bring varied perspectives from government, business, research, NGOs, civil society and minority groups to enrich discussions and insights. The BIONEXT workshops are designed based on the following principles:
Engage with existing knowledge, frameworks, and concepts to structure sessions, deepen the discussions and critically reflect on, and improve frameworks and concepts used.
Create a space for capacity building and reflexivity, for both participant and facilitator to build transformative capacities.
Foster radicality through foresight methods that encourage the exploration of radical change rather than incremental change within the context of complex and uncertain futures.
Involve a diverse group of participants for the generation of knowledge that is rooted in practice and different social contexts.
Create a safe and inclusive environment that values plurality and equal participation terms of role and voice.
Methodologies used in each workshop
The four workshops are designed to build upon one another sequentially. In the first workshop, the IPBES Nature Futures Framework (NFF) and the European Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP’s) were used as guiding frameworks. Stakeholders collaborated to create a new set of nature-positive shared visions for Europe in 2050. This process involved the development of three visions rooted in different value perspectives outlined within the NFF. Moreover, stakeholders integrated considerations of biodiversity and its interconnectedness with climate change, food, water, energy, transport, and health into the SSP’s.
These SSP scenarios outline plausible global developments that may present challenges for addressing and adapting to climate change in the future. The NFF visions serve as inspiration for generating pluralistic transformative pathways toward nature-positive futures. The SSPs present a spectrum of potential future conditions that could either facilitate or impede the realization of the NFF visions. These conditions will be examined in the second workshop, planned for May 2024.
During the second workshop, multiple just transition pathways will be developed using a method known as backcasting. Backcasting involves identifying key milestones that must occur between the future and the present. The transition pathways outline potential routes from the current state to the envisioned NFF future. These pathways are compelling narratives crafted from the backcasting exercise, encompassing short-, medium-, and long-term objectives along with actionable ideas.
The workshop employs a multi-level perspective which enhances understanding of the necessary conditions across three different governance levels that influence change, to specify the pathways. Discussing what needs to be built up and what needs to be broken down to tackle the direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity loss, will help focus specifically on the dynamics of breakdown required for transformative change.
Ultimately, the transition pathways developed in workshop 2 will describe how structures, cultures, and practices change. These pathways will serve to identify transformation actions to initiate, accelerate and upscale the transition toward the envisioned NFF futures in Workshop 3. Following the outcomes of Workshop 3, the BIONEXT Pathways app will be developed before Workshop 4. The Pathways app allows diverse users to explore transformational building blocks to formulate policies, strategies, and implementation pathways. In this concluding workshop, the functionality of the Pathways app will be demonstrated, showcasing how it can aid in the creation of just transition pathways tailored to specific geographic, social, and cultural contexts. Additionally, a synthesis of project outputs will be presented and deliberated upon by workshop participants and other stakeholders involved in this final session.
Amanda Krijgsman is a researcher at the Dutch Research Institute For Transitions (DRIFT). She is fascinated by nature’s role in solving societal problems. Her work focuses on complex spatial and societal issues relating to sustainable goals for both people and nature. To tackle this, she conducts action-oriented research that brings together physical, technical, political, and social perspectives. Within the BIONEXT project, she works on the interlinkages within the biodiversity nexus to formulate concrete options for transformative change.