Diverse values of nature for sustainability

Twenty-five years since foundational publications on valuing ecosystem services for human well-being(1,2), addressing the global biodiversity crisis(3) still implies confronting barriers to incorporating nature's diverse values into decision-making. These barriers include powerful interests supported by current norms and legal rules such as property rights, which determine whose values and which values of nature are acted on. A better understanding of how and why nature is (under)valued is more urgent than ever(4). Notwithstanding agreements to incorporate nature's values into actions, including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)(5) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals(6), predominant environmental and development policies still prioritize a subset of values, particularly those linked to markets, and ignore other ways people relate to and benefit from nature(7). Arguably, a 'values crisis' underpins the intertwined crises of biodiversity loss and climate change(8), pandemic emergence(9) and socio-environmental injustices(10). On the basis of more than 50,000 scientific publications, policy documents and Indigenous and local knowledge sources, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) assessed knowledge on nature's diverse values and valuation methods to gain insights into their role in policymaking and fuller integration into decisions(7,11). Applying this evidence, combinations of values-centred approaches are proposed to improve valuation and address barriers to uptake, ultimately leveraging transformative changes towards more just (that is, fair treatment of people and nature, including inter- and intragenerational equity) and sustainable futures

Diverse values of nature for sustainability

Twenty-five years since foundational publications on valuing ecosystem services for human well-being1,2, addressing the global biodiversity crisis3 still implies confronting barriers to incorporating nature’s diverse values into decision-making. These barriers include powerful interests supported by current norms and legal rules such as property rights, which determine whose values and which values of nature are acted on. A better understanding of how and why nature is (under)valued is more urgent than ever4. Notwithstanding agreements to incorporate nature’s values into actions, including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)5 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals6, predominant environmental and development policies still prioritize a subset of values, particularly those linked to markets, and ignore other ways people relate to and benefit from nature7. Arguably, a ‘values crisis’ underpins the intertwined crises of biodiversity loss and climate change8, pandemic emergence9 and socio-environmental injustices10. On the basis of more than 50,000 scientific publications, policy documents and Indigenous and local knowledge sources, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) assessed knowledge on nature’s diverse values and valuation methods to gain insights into their role in policymaking and fuller integration into decisions7,11. Applying this evidence, combinations of values-centred approaches are proposed to improve valuation and address barriers to uptake, ultimately leveraging transformative changes towards more just (that is, fair treatment of people and nature, including inter- and intragenerational equity) and sustainable futures

Diverse values of nature for sustainability

Twenty-five years since foundational publications on valuing ecosystem services for human well-being, addressing the global biodiversity crisis still implies confronting barriers to incorporating nature’s diverse values into decision-making. These barriers include powerful interests supported by current norms and legal rules such as property rights, which determine whose values and which values of nature are acted on. A better understanding of how and why nature is (under)valued is more urgent than ever. Notwithstanding agreements to incorporate nature’s values into actions, including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, predominant environmental and development policies still prioritize a subset of values, particularly those linked to markets, and ignore other ways people relate to and benefit from nature. Arguably, a ‘values crisis’ underpins the intertwined crises of biodiversity loss and climate change, pandemic emergence and socio-environmental injustices. On the basis of more than 50,000 scientific publications, policy documents and Indigenous and local knowledge sources, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) assessed knowledge on nature’s diverse values and valuation methods to gain insights into their role in policymaking and fuller integration into decisions. Applying this evidence, combinations of values-centred approaches are proposed to improve valuation and address barriers to uptake, ultimately leveraging transformative changes towards more just (that is, fair treatment of people and nature, including inter- and intragenerational equity) and sustainable futures

Stratégies de subsistance, déforestation et conservation de la biodiversité : une analyse micro économétrique à partir d’une enquête de ménages ruraux dans le paysage transfrontalier de conservation Tridom

Cette thèse examine les principaux déterminants des stratégies de subsistance des ménages ruraux. Elle cherche à comprendre comment ces stratégies impactent la déforestation à petite échelle et la conservation de la biodiversité suivant une approche paysagère. A partir d’une base de données unique obtenue grâce à une enquête en face-à-face auprès d’un échantillon représentatif de 1035 ménages dans le paysage transfrontalier de conservation du Trinational Dja-Odzala-Minkébé (Tridom-TCL)-Bassin du Congo, cette thèse vise à répondre à trois questions et s’organise en trois chapitres. Le premier chapitre analyse "comment les ménages autochtones et locaux formulent leurs préférences parmi les stratégies et moyens d’existence” à l’aide d’un model Probit autorégressif spatial. Le deuxième chapitre examine "comment et à quelle amplitude ces stratégies impactent la déforestation à petite échelle" à l’aide d’un modèle de décalage spatial. Compte tenu de la nature des interactions entre les ménages et de la faune, de leurs principales activités, le troisième chapitre examine "les préférences des ménages pour la conservation des éléphants de forêt” à l’aide des modèles à variable qualitatives limitées.Les actifs financiers (transfert d’argent et emprunts), la distance au marché, les dommages résultant des conflits homme-éléphant et l’ethnicité, plus précisément, l’autochtonie comptent parmi les facteurs déterminants des choix de stratégies de subsistance des ménages ruraux dans le Tridom-TCL. Nous montrons en outre que l’intensité de déforestation des ménages varie significativement en fonction de ces stratégies de subsistance. Par conséquent, les engagements en faveur de la réduction de la déforestation peuvent être favorisés par une bonne prise en compte des facteurs qui gouvernent les choix des modes de subsistance opérés par les ménages. Ils peuvent également être favorisés par la prise en compte les interactions entre ménages ainsi que leur localisation dans le paysage. En effet, nous trouvons qu’il existe des effets d’imitation, dans la décision de déforestation, entre les ménages d’un même voisinage, avec des effets spatiaux indirects susceptibles d’amplifier la déforestation à petite échelle.Les solutions transversales, aux trois questions abordées dans cette thèse, en faveur d’un paysage durable devraient viser l’optimisation des compromis entre les stratégies de subsistance des ménages, les forêts et/ou les habitats naturels de la faune. Les décideurs devraient, par exemple, procéder à l’intégration des corridors de mobilité de grands mammifères dont les éléphants de forêt, dans des zones à forte concentration de la faune et loin des espaces communautaires afin de réduire le risque de conflits hommes-faune.This thesis investigates the key drivers of rural households’ choices of livelihoods, and how these choices impact forest clearing and biodiversity conservation under a landscape approach. Using a novel and unique database obtained from a face-to-face survey with a representative sample of 1035 households in the Dja-Odzala-Minkébé trinational transboundary conservation landscape (Tridom-TCL)- Congo basin , this PhD thesis address three main questions investigated in three chapters. Using a spatial probit model, the first chapter investigates “how do local and indigenous households formulate their preferences among livelihoods strategies?” Using a spatial lag model, the second chapter investigates “how and how much do these livelihoods strategies, given wildlife constrains such as human-wildlife conflicts, impact smallscale deforestation?” Using corner solution models, the third chapter investigates "how the nature of the interactions among households and wildlife, the households’ main activities as well as their land holdings impact their willingness to pay to prevent endangered forest elephant extinction?”Among other, we find that livelihoods strategies are determined by autochthonous status, financial assets (money transfer and access to loan), distance to market and larger crop losses resulting from human-wildlife conflicts. Further, we show that livelihoods strategies are important for deforestation. Therefore, the commitments to reducing small-scale deforestation may be favored by a good consideration of factors that drive households’ livelihoods strategies. We find out that spatial issues seem to be important. Proximity among households yields spatial shift effects and spatial spillover effects that are likely to amplify small-scale deforestation. We also argue that, cross-cutting solutions towards a sustainable landscape considering these three crucial issues involve optimizing trade-off between households’ livelihoods strategies, forest and the natural habitats of fauna. Therefore, the issues of community land security, of where natural habitat is needed and of how it should be managed are at the core of the problem. For example, decision-makers should proceed with the integration of large mammals mobility corridors far away from the community settlements in order to enhance zero-conflict-oriented elephant habitats; corridors should be consistently placed relatively to high elephant-concentration zones without crossing into zones with denser human populations

Stratégies de subsistance, déforestation et conservation de la biodiversité : une analyse micro économétrique à partir d’une enquête de ménages ruraux dans le paysage transfrontalier de conservation Tridom

This thesis investigates the key drivers of rural households’ choices of livelihoods, and how these choices impact forest clearing and biodiversity conservation under a landscape approach. Using a novel and unique database obtained from a face-to-face survey with a representative sample of 1035 households in the Dja-Odzala-Minkébé trinational transboundary conservation landscape (Tridom-TCL)- Congo basin , this PhD thesis address three main questions investigated in three chapters. Using a spatial probit model, the first chapter investigates “how do local and indigenous households formulate their preferences among livelihoods strategies?” Using a spatial lag model, the second chapter investigates “how and how much do these livelihoods strategies, given wildlife constrains such as human-wildlife conflicts, impact smallscale deforestation?” Using corner solution models, the third chapter investigates "how the nature of the interactions among households and wildlife, the households’ main activities as well as their land holdings impact their willingness to pay to prevent endangered forest elephant extinction?”Among other, we find that livelihoods strategies are determined by autochthonous status, financial assets (money transfer and access to loan), distance to market and larger crop losses resulting from human-wildlife conflicts. Further, we show that livelihoods strategies are important for deforestation. Therefore, the commitments to reducing small-scale deforestation may be favored by a good consideration of factors that drive households’ livelihoods strategies. We find out that spatial issues seem to be important. Proximity among households yields spatial shift effects and spatial spillover effects that are likely to amplify small-scale deforestation. We also argue that, cross-cutting solutions towards a sustainable landscape considering these three crucial issues involve optimizing trade-off between households’ livelihoods strategies, forest and the natural habitats of fauna. Therefore, the issues of community land security, of where natural habitat is needed and of how it should be managed are at the core of the problem. For example, decision-makers should proceed with the integration of large mammals mobility corridors far away from the community settlements in order to enhance zero-conflict-oriented elephant habitats; corridors should be consistently placed relatively to high elephant-concentration zones without crossing into zones with denser human populations.Cette thèse examine les principaux déterminants des stratégies de subsistance des ménages ruraux. Elle cherche à comprendre comment ces stratégies impactent la déforestation à petite échelle et la conservation de la biodiversité suivant une approche paysagère. A partir d’une base de données unique obtenue grâce à une enquête en face-à-face auprès d’un échantillon représentatif de 1035 ménages dans le paysage transfrontalier de conservation du Trinational Dja-Odzala-Minkébé (Tridom-TCL)-Bassin du Congo, cette thèse vise à répondre à trois questions et s’organise en trois chapitres. Le premier chapitre analyse "comment les ménages autochtones et locaux formulent leurs préférences parmi les stratégies et moyens d’existence” à l’aide d’un model Probit autorégressif spatial. Le deuxième chapitre examine "comment et à quelle amplitude ces stratégies impactent la déforestation à petite échelle" à l’aide d’un modèle de décalage spatial. Compte tenu de la nature des interactions entre les ménages et de la faune, de leurs principales activités, le troisième chapitre examine "les préférences des ménages pour la conservation des éléphants de forêt” à l’aide des modèles à variable qualitatives limitées.Les actifs financiers (transfert d’argent et emprunts), la distance au marché, les dommages résultant des conflits homme-éléphant et l’ethnicité, plus précisément, l’autochtonie comptent parmi les facteurs déterminants des choix de stratégies de subsistance des ménages ruraux dans le Tridom-TCL. Nous montrons en outre que l’intensité de déforestation des ménages varie significativement en fonction de ces stratégies de subsistance. Par conséquent, les engagements en faveur de la réduction de la déforestation peuvent être favorisés par une bonne prise en compte des facteurs qui gouvernent les choix des modes de subsistance opérés par les ménages. Ils peuvent également être favorisés par la prise en compte les interactions entre ménages ainsi que leur localisation dans le paysage. En effet, nous trouvons qu’il existe des effets d’imitation, dans la décision de déforestation, entre les ménages d’un même voisinage, avec des effets spatiaux indirects susceptibles d’amplifier la déforestation à petite échelle.Les solutions transversales, aux trois questions abordées dans cette thèse, en faveur d’un paysage durable devraient viser l’optimisation des compromis entre les stratégies de subsistance des ménages, les forêts et/ou les habitats naturels de la faune. Les décideurs devraient, par exemple, procéder à l’intégration des corridors de mobilité de grands mammifères dont les éléphants de forêt, dans des zones à forte concentration de la faune et loin des espaces communautaires afin de réduire le risque de conflits hommes-faune

Are risk preferences consistent across elicitation procedures? A field experiment in Congo basin countries.

International audienceWe compare individual risk preferences elicited through a classic Ordered Lottery Selection (OLS) procedure with five gambles, and an extended procedure composed of nine gambles. The research question is about the stability of the risk preferences across these two elicitation variants. We implemented a field experiment with 1002 rural households in the Congo Basin from December 2013 to July 2014. We show that 1/3 of the sample is extremely risk averse regardless of the procedure. We found inconsistencies in risk preferences elicited across procedures. Indeed, 45.71% are characterized by instability of preferences, either weak (34.53%) or strong (11.18%); 42.81% of the sample exhibits stable preferences and the remaining 11.48% of the sample-initially risk neutral in the classic procedure-is classified as risk loving in the extended procedure. Undereducation can be seen as the main driver of the strong instability since the incremental change brought about by the attainment of secondary school on the likelihood to remain stable is ten times greater than the other considered drivers

The value of endangered forest elephants to local communities in a transboundary conservation landscape

This paper seeks to determine and characterize social and cultural preferences for the conservation of endangered forest elephants (EFEs) in the Congo Basins Tridom Landscape.Using unique data from a stratified, random, face-to-face survey with 1,035 households in 108 villages in 2014, we combine double-bounded dichotomous choice with open-ended elicitation formats to assess the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for EFE conservation.We find that local households are willing to pay CFA 1,139.4 (€1.74) per month to prevent EFE extinction. This totals CFA 753.9 million (€1.15 million) per year for all inhabitants. Indigenousness positively influences the WTP for EFE conservation.Spatial data suggest that local communities prefer that elephants remain far from their crops.The existence of human-elephant conflicts has a neutral effect on preferences for EFE conservation. Therefore, our study suggests that local communities would engage in biodiversity preservation when the public benefits of conservation are accompanied by private benefits, such as human-elephant conflict avoidance

Determinants of the avoidance behaviour of households to cope with unsafe drinking water: case study of Douala and Yaoundé in Cameroon

Despite the effectiveness of home water treatment methods, this practice is not yet widespread in many countries, including Cameroon. This study analyses the determinants of the avoidance behaviour of households to cope with unsafe drinking water in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé in Cameroon. The study is based on primary data collected in 2013 from a sample of 789 households in the two cities. The nested logit model is used for empirical analysis. The main findings of the estimated models are as follows: the decision to improve water quality decreases when the head of the household is a man and when there is no child in the household. Furthermore, it decreases when wealth and the level of education are low. In addition, the probability of using a given avoidance method decreases with its cost of adoption and increases with its perceived efficiency (that is, the favourable opinion on the quality of water after treatment). The implications for public policies are discussed in this paper