PLURALAKES goes to IPBES 12 Stakeholder Day

 Report by: Heather Moorhouse (PLURALAKES researcher at UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology)

IPBES is an international body which aims to “strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services” and their stakeholder day invites interested academics and organisations to learn more about the work of IPBES. Several panel sessions took place ranging from the latest assessment on business and biodiversity to be finalised by members in the plenary sessions occuring the rest of the week, to experiences of co-chairs from past assessments. One of the most inspiring sessions led by Diego Verissimo from the University of Oxford and the French Biodiversity Collage presented different approaches and research on moving from evidence to action and behavioural change. We are often keen as researchers to disseminate our knowledge but not so good at how we translate that to societal change. Their work gave some insights into the need to remove barriers to better enable nature senstitive behaviour.

Throughout the day there was plenty of time to “network” and we presented our poster to other delegates who were very interested in our approaches and learnings from our first workshop in the Lake District National Park. Those from overseas were particularly surprised about the tensions and barriers preventing positive lake management in a “lake district”. There was a lot of love for the group illustrations designed by Bethan Thorsby-Sporadic Illustration from our Lake District workshop, highlighting the power of combining research with art.

My personal take-homes were firstly of feeling inspired to be surrounded by such knowledgeable peers on biodiversity and ecosystems, and learning about the development of IPBES assessments and frameworks compiled by leading researchers. Secondly, however, I felt cynicism for the ecosystems and organisms we were there to represent as those in policy/government spoke about the UK’s need for “clean energy” and “growth”. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries and this language feels incompatible with the positive futures for nature so many of us desire. Despite this, as Diego Verissimo explained, many people want to see our biodiversity thriving and care deeply, but think others don’t and that can be a barrier to behavioural change. So, lets keep talking and keep trying to work together to do our best for nature.