Editorial on the Research Topic.
Nature’s Contributions to People: On the Relation Between Valuations and Actions

Beery, Thomas H.

Quaas, Martin

Stenseke, Marie

English

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EDITORIALpublished: 25 June 2021doi: 10.3389/fevo.2021.712902Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution | www.frontiersin.org 1 June 2021 | Volume 9 | Article 712902Edited and reviewed by:Orsolya Valkó,Hungarian Academy ofScience, Hungary*Correspondence:Marie Stensekemarie.stenseke@geography.gu.seSpecialty section:This article was submitted toConservation and RestorationEcology,a section of the journalFrontiers in Ecology and EvolutionReceived: 21 May 2021Accepted: 02 June 2021Published: 25 June 2021Citation:Beery TH, Quaas M and Stenseke M(2021) Editorial: Nature’sContributions to People: On theRelation Between Valuations andActions. Front. Ecol. Evol. 9:712902.doi: 10.3389/fevo.2021.712902Editorial: Nature’s Contributions toPeople: On the Relation BetweenValuations and ActionsThomas H. Beery 1, Martin Quaas 2 and Marie Stenseke 3*1 Faculty for Teacher Training, Man and Biosphere Health Research Group, Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, Sweden,2 Biodiversity Economics Group, Department of Economics, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv),Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany, 3Unit for Human Geography, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business,Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, SwedenKeywords: biodiversity, awareness, multiple values, practices, transformative changesEditorial on the Research TopicNature’s Contributions to People: On the Relation Between Valuations and ActionsHow do the valuations of nature’s contributions to people, i.e., all the benefits humanity obtainsfrom nature, link to concrete actions?In line with other bodies and a manifold of researchers addressing contemporary environmentalchallenges, the Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, published by theIntergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES),concludes that a fundamental reorganization across technological, economic, and social factors,including values, is needed to achieve goals for conserving and sustainably using nature (IPBES,2019). This reorganization implies transformative changes, for example, in the production andconsumption of energy, food, and fiber.While scientists and decision-makers increasingly acknowledge the need for transformativechange, we lack specific definitions of the details of transformative change and agreement on howsuch change is ensured. However, by clarifying and assessing the multiple values of nature andits benefits, we understand what is at stake, for whom, and the tools for making priorities (Díazet al., 2018, 2019). Valuation is, though, a means to an end. Likewise, increased awareness of thevalues of biodiversity is also a means to an end. The links between valuation, increasing awareness,and concrete actions, among policymakers and other decision-makers, including individuals, arecrucial for transformative changes to start and proceed.These considerations reverse the established approach in economic valuation, according towhich one uses observations about actual actions to infer the values the actor holds (“revealedpreferences”). In line with this economic paradigm, the currently observed societal actions andresulting biodiversity change reveals a lack of societal valuation of nature’s contributions to people.If we would “transform our world,” as the UN’s Agenda 2030 demands, and with it the way societiesact toward nature, this would reveal a new social valuation of nature’s contributions to people.Either way, there is a close relationship between actions and valuations.The articles in this Research Topic present insights from various perspectives and theoreticaland methodological approaches on the connections between valuations of nature’s contributionsto people, including ecosystem services, awareness, and concrete actions. The articles concernperceptions and actions among individuals and groups of people and aspects related to governanceranging from local to global scales, based on cases from various parts of the world.Some of the articles highlight how we understand “value” and the plurality of ways in whichBeery et al. Editorial: NCP: Valuations and Actionspeople value the rest of nature and discuss the implicationsfor governing. Beery and Lekies consider children’s natureexperiences and highlight how child relationship to naturedemonstrates relational value; Beery and Lekies argue thatchildren’s perspectives need to be better considered in ecosystemvaluation and decision making. Johansson et al. elaborate onthe understandings of “value.” Using the case of human-wildlife encounters, they propose a psychological framework forunderstanding positive and negative contributions of wildlifefor peoples’ nature experiences, having a specific focus on theirrestorative effects.Leventon et al. discuss the need for transforming biodiversitygovernance systems, departing from Donella Meadows’ leveragepoints. They argue that plural valuation of biodiversity requiresengagement with deep leverage points for governance systemtransformation, i.e., the intent and goals of the system, and notjust the design of it.Bravo-Monroy explores nature’s contributions to people usingLefebvre’s social theory as an analytical tool. Bravo-Monroylooks into the various meanings of place in coffee andpotato farmer communities in Colombia and describesthree co-existing spaces: lived spaces, perceived spaces, andconceived spaces. Bravo-Monroy points at the potential tofacilitate communication on land use by recognizing nature’scontributions to people with the help of those dimensions.A couple of articles explore the links between valuesand behavior. Salazar et al. review tools that assess people’sconnections to nature, with a specific aim to identify toolshelpful to managers and practitioners. Maioli et al. present astudy of local stakeholders’ perceptions and their relation to theirlocal environment in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Maioli et al.illustrate the usefulness of this kind of insight for designing moreeffective landscape management and planning strategies.Hysing and Lidskog and Stålhammar take a conceptual turnand address the role of concepts and concept innovation. Hysingand Lidskog delve into the issue of ecosystem services vs. nature’scontributions to people, asking if conceptual innovation cangenerate transformative change. Taking the use of ecosystemservices among policy practitioners in Sweden as a case, theypoint at the necessity to pay attention to interpretative frames andgive a strong role to social analysis in the process of conceptualinnovation. Stålhammar looks into the link between valuesand sustainability transformations. Stålhammar highlights thedistinction between descriptive and normative modes of valuesand argues that the latter mode needs to be better recognized.Faith takes the perspective of intergenerational justice andhighlights the value of “maintenance of options,” one of the18 categories of “nature’s contributions to people” defined byIPBES, and underlines the importance of considering this future-looking aspect.The mix of valuation and action insights included in thearticles of this Research Topic is in line with calls for novel,positive, and engaging visions of the future. Transformationwill require a coordinated and inclusive understanding oftransformative change toward greater uptake of biodiversityand ecosystem services and mobilizing a broad base oflocal actors (e.g., Albrechts et al., 2020). The ideas andvisions included in this collection represent the need fora rich diversity of functions and understandings of values.Altogether, the articles demonstrate that this diversity mustinclude theory, policy, and case studies, from guiding ideasto guiding practice. Ultimately, to achieve the transformativechange that UN Agenda 2030 calls for, scientists, planners,and natural resource managers will need to work with thehelp of the creative professions (e.g., artists and philosophers)and the service professions (e.g., education, medical care,elder care, and childcare). Such collaboration must strive torecognize and integrate diverse worldviews and knowledgesystems (Parsons and Fisher, 2020).AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONSAll authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectualcontribution to the work, and approved it for publication.REFERENCESAlbrechts, L., Barbanente, A., and Monno, V. (2020). Practicing transformativeplanning: the territory-landscape plan as a catalyst for change. City TerritoryArchitect. 7, 1–13. doi: 10.1186/s40410-019-0111-2Díaz, S., Pascual, U., Stenseke, M., Martín-López, B., Watson, R. T., Molnár, Z.,et al. (2018). Assessing nature’s contributions to people. Science 359, 270–272.doi: 10.1126/science.aap8826Díaz, S., Settele, J., Brondízio, E. S., Ngo, H. T., Agard, J., Arneth, A., et al.(2019). Pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth points to the needfor transformative change. Science 366:eaax3100. doi: 10.1126/science.aax3100IPBES (2019). Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services GlobalAssessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Bonn.Parsons, M., and Fisher, K. (2020). Indigenous peoples and transformations infreshwater governance and management. Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain. 44,124–139. doi: 10.1016/j.cosust.2020.03.006Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in theabsence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as apotential conflict of interest.Copyright © 2021 Beery, Quaas and Stenseke. This is an open-access articledistributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided theoriginal author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the originalpublication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice.No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with theseterms.Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution | www.frontiersin.org 2 June 2021 | Volume 9 | Article 712902

Editorial: Nature’s Contributions to People: On the Relation Between Valuations and Actions

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