Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
8-2021
Abstract
Decades of research and policy interventions on biodiversity have insufficiently addressed the dual issues of biodiversity degradation and social justice. New approaches are therefore needed. We devised a research and action agenda that calls for a collective task of revisiting biodiversity toward the goal of sustaining diverse and just futures for life on Earth. Revisiting biodiversity involves critically reflecting on past and present research, policy, and practice concerning biodiversity to inspire creative thinking about the future. The agenda was developed through a 2-year dialogue process that involved close to 300 experts from diverse disciplines and locations. This process was informed by social science insights that show biodiversity research and action is underpinned by choices about how problems are conceptualized. Recognizing knowledge, action, and ethics as inseparable, we synthesized a set of principles that help navigate the task of revisiting biodiversity. The agenda articulates 4 thematic areas for future research. First, researchers need to revisit biodiversity narratives by challenging conceptualizations that exclude diversity and entrench the separation of humans, cultures, economies, and societies from nature. Second, researchers should focus on the relationships between the Anthropocene, biodiversity, and culture by considering humanity and biodiversity as tied together in specific contexts. Third, researchers should focus on nature and economies by better accounting for the interacting structures of economic and financial systems as core drivers of biodiversity loss. Finally, researchers should enable transformative biodiversity research and action by reconfiguring relationships between human and nonhuman communities in and through science, policy, and practice. Revisiting biodiversity necessitates a renewed focus on dialogue among biodiversity communities and beyond that critically reflects on the past to channel research and action toward fostering just and diverse futures for human and nonhuman life on Earth.
Keywords
Anthropocene, biodiversity research, diversity, futures, justice, narratives, transformative change
Discipline
Environmental Law | Environmental Sciences
Research Areas
Public Interest Law, Community and Social Justice
Publication
Conservation Biology
Volume
35
Issue
4
First Page
1086
Last Page
1097
ISSN
0888-8892
Identifier
10.1111/cobi.13671
Publisher
Wiley
Citation
WYBORN, Carina; MONTANA, J.; KALAS, N.; CLEMENT, S.; DAVILA, F.; KNOWLES, N.; LOUDER, E.; BALAN, M.; CHAMBERS, J.; CHRISTEL, L.; FORSYTH, T.; HENDERSON, G.; TORT, S. Izquierdo; LIM, Michelle Mei Ling; and et al.
An agenda for research and action toward diverse and just futures for life on Earth. (2021). Conservation Biology. 35, (4), 1086-1097.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4101
Copyright Owner and License
Authors-CC-BY
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13671
Comments
Full list of authors: C. Wyborn, J. Montana, N. Kalas, S. Clement, F. Davila, N. Knowles, E. Louder, M. Balan, J. Chambers, L. Christel, T. Forsyth, G. Henderson, S. Izquierdo Tort, M. Lim, M. J. Martinez-Harms, J. Merçon, E. Nuesiri, L. Pereira, V. Pilbeam, E. Turnhout, S. Wood, M. Ryan