Diverse values of nature for sustainability

Addressing the global biodiversity crisis requires overcoming barriers to incorporating nature's diverse values into decision-making. Predominant policies prioritize market-linked values, ignoring other ways people benefit from nature. This paper, based on extensive evidence, proposes values-centered approaches to improve valuation and address barriers, ultimately leveraging transformative changes for more just and sustainable futures. A typology of values (worldviews, broad values, specific values, value indicators) and life frames ('living from', 'living in', 'living with', 'living as' nature) are introduced to analyze how nature's values are considered in decisions. The paper examines diverse valuation methods and their uptake, highlighting challenges like incommensurability and power asymmetries. It proposes values-centered leverage points for transformative change, including improved valuation, embedding value information into decision-making, reconfiguring societal structures, and modifying social norms and goals.

Unai Pascual, Patricia Balvanera, Christopher B. Anderson, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Michael Christie, David González-Jiménez, Adrian Martin, Christopher M. Raymond, Mette Termansen, Arild Vatn, Simone Athayde, Brigitte Baptiste, David N. Barton, Sander Jacobs, Eszter Kelemen, Ritesh Kumar, Elena Lazos, Tuyeni H. Mwampamba, Barbara Nakangu, Patrick O'Farrell, Suneetha M. Subramanian, Meine van Noordwijk, SoEun Ahn, Sacha Amaruzaman, Ariane M. Amin, Paola Arias-Arévalo, Gabriela Arroyo-Robles, Alta De Vos, Nicolas Dendoncker, Stefanie Engel, Uta Eser, Daniel P. Faith, Anna Filyushkina, Houda Ghazi, Erik Gómez-Baggethun, Rachelle K. Gould, Louise Guibrunet, Haripriya Gundimeda, Thomas Hahn, Zuzana V. Harmáčková, Marcello Hernández-Blanco, Andra-Ioana Horcea-Milcu, Mariaelena Huambachano, Natalia Lutti Hummel Wicher, Cem İskender Aydın, Mine İşlar, Ann-Kathrin Koessler, Jasper O. Kenter, Marina Kosmus, Heera Lee, Beria Leimona, Sharachchandra Lele, Dominic Lenzi, Bosco Lliso, Lelani M. Mannetti, Juliana Merçon, Ana Sofia Monroy-Sais, Nibedita Mukherjee, Barbara Muraca, Roldan Muradian, Ranjini Murali, Sara H. Nelson, Gabriel R. Nemogá-Soto, Jonas Ngouhouo-Poufoun, Aidin Niamir, Emmanuel Nuesiri, Tobias O. Nyumba, Begüm Özkaynak, Ignacio Palomo, Ram Pandit, Agnieszka Pawłowska-Mainville, Luciana Porter-Bolland, Martin Quaas, Julian Rode, Ricardo Rozzi, Sonya Sachdeva, Aibek Samakov, Marije Schaafsma, Nadia Sitas, Paula Ungaro, Evonne Yiu, Yuki Yoshida, Eglee Zent