In a time of multiple crises, the enormous loss of biodiversity is one of our greatest challenges, the consequences of which are already affecting countless people around the world. It is evident by now: Something has to change - but what and how? Dr. Stefan Partelow, head of the “Transformation and Governance” research area at the Center for Life Ethics at the University of Bonn, is working on precisely this question. As one of many scientists, he contributed to the Transformative Change Assessment of the World Biodiversity Council IPBES*, which has now been published: It aims to understand and identify factors in human society that can be used to bring about transformative change for the conservation, restoration and wise use of biodiversity while considering social and economic objectives in the context of sustainable development.

Dr. Partelow, the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment deals with the loss of biodiversity, or more precisely: the underlying causes. What exactly are these causes?

According to previous IPBES expert assessments and reports, the global decline of biodiversity is the result of unsustainable use of nature coming from political and economic decisions based on a narrow set of values. We are degrading too much habitat, changing too much land, overusing water resources and emitting too many greenhouse gases which are driving climate change that further stress natural systems.

The previous Global IPBES Assessment from 2019 concludes that transformative, system-wide change is necessary to achieve the United Nations' Vision 2050 for Biodiversity and the Sustainable Development Goals. What is meant by “transformative change”?

Transformative change means fundamental system-wide changes in the goals and organization of systems including across technology, economy and society. Key knowledge objectives would be to understand and identify factors in society at individual and collective levels, including behavioral, social, cultural, economic, institutional, and technical dimensions. This knowledge can then be leveraged to bring about transformative change through governance that can guide the behavior of people and systems towards the intended goals across different contexts, taking into account broader social and economic goals in the context of sustainable development.

What role does science play in achieving transformative change?                                                                                                                                            

IPBES is an independent inter-governmental science-policy platform formed by a coalition of state governments, and is supported by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The Transformative Change Assessment is carried out by an Expert Group – of which IPBES has different groups focus on a variety of thematic areas – to structure and synthesize the scientific evidence and other relevant knowledge on the topic. The multi-disciplinary scientific expert group seeks inputs from experts on the many related topics and synthesizes that knowledge into a final report for policy organizations. Science needs to actively engage in the science-policy interface to inform transformative change, to provide evidence-informed strategies, tactics and pathways that can be effective in society.

You head the Transformation and Governance Research Area at the Center for Life Ethics. Governance enables society to implement targeted changes to living systems through rules, norms and institutions. How can science, politics and society work together to shape transformative change?

Leveraging willingness to build trust and social capital (the quantity, quality and diverse types of social relations we have) between science, policy circles and civil society is crucial. We need to start at eye-level, with respect for the experiences, knowledge, values and goals that these different groups hold. Coming into dialogue is a natural start point. From a science perspective, being transparent and inclusive in how and why we do our science in ways that include these actor groups is critical for improving the outcomes of our research, trust in the process, and ultimately the uptake of the relevant knowledge in practice by the actors who can benefit from it the most.

How can each one of us contribute?                                                                                                                                                                                                        

We can be more curious and less reactive or immediately judgmental about changes or goal setting processes. Changes in society, the economy and politics are always happening – but we are often focused on a level of change that is distant from our control or leave us as needing to take a heavy burden of individual responsibility. In modern discourse around sustainability, the two centers of gravity are state-level actions or individual behavior change. However, in most of our lives our groups of friends, family, colleagues and neighborhood are more impactful in shaping us, and how we shape them. This community level – between individual and state – is essential to value and engage with. Our communities are informal and require our active engagement, and we have a lot of agency in shaping them ourselves. Becoming engaged from a place of openness and curiosity is key. As individuals in these communities, we can ask ourselves: what are my values, and why are they important to me? Do my actions reflect those values?

According to IPBES, it is essential to include different worldviews, values and knowledge systems in transformation processes. The Center for Life Ethics pursues an inter- and transdisciplinary approach in research, teaching and consulting with ethics as a bridging cross-sectional perspective. How can ethics help to shape transformative change?

Ethics are central to the themes, goals and action of transformative change. Ethics and moral values are central in shaping society’s answers to questions of: what kind of transformative change do we want, for who should it benefit, and what actions are ethical to get there? To comprehensively engage with these questions, we need knowledge inputs from many different disciplinary perspectives, but also need to engage directly with different groups in society. At the Center for Life Ethics, we actively explore research approaches to address these questions with inter- and transdisciplinary approaches.

Your contribution to the Transformative Change Assessment deals with the theory of collective action developed by Elinor Ostrom and her social-ecological systems framework. What can we learn from Ostrom and how can her approaches contribute to understanding and actively shaping transformative processes?

Collective action theory aims to explain how and why individuals cooperate when they have shared resources or want to achieve collective goals. Science has been able to show that there are many different factors that make some groups more successful in cooperation than others, and that the likelihood of effective collaboration can be improved by designing collection action processes with key features supported by science, such as leadership, clear social and ecosystem boundaries, graduated sanctioning, multi-level institutional alignment, and investments into trust building and social capital. To enable transformative change, collective action will be needed across society and the economy at all levels, particularly in political decision-making and international cooperation. Improving our theories of collective action to design cooperation more effectively can avoid costal failures and improve the likelihood of success in the practice.

The IPBES report was three years in the making. Let's look into the future - what would you like to see for the world in three years' time?

What many of us hope for and are working towards are concrete steps forward – at all levels – towards proactive dialogue aimed at context-appropriate goal setting and implementation pathways. There is a need for transformative change processes to put forward a positive vision for alternative possible futures – futures that are engaging and inspiring in how they offer equitable opportunities across society.

*The World Biodiversity Council IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) is an independent, intergovernmental body that provides policy makers with scientific advice and substantiated information on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Founded in 2012, the highly interdisciplinary platform based in Bonn currently comprises 147 member states.