Deep Thought: Invitation to prioritize the TCA strategies and actions using the Q approach to consensus building

Next to the underlying causes of biodiversity loss, the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment (TCA) has identified challenges to transformative change, key principles and approaches to address them, and strategies and actions to bring about transformative change. The five strategies call i. to conserve and regenerate places of value to nature and people, ii. to drive systemic change in the sectors most responsible for biodiversity loss and nature’s decline, iii. to transform economic systems for nature and equity, iv. to transform governance systems, to be integrative, inclusive, accountable and adaptive, and v. to shift societal views and values to recognize human-nature interconnectedness. The strategies are divided into 22 actions. While the strategies and actions are complementary and all individually important, decision-making and implementation practice likely need to prioritize some over others. Therefore, with this “activity poster”, the conference participants of the World Biodiversity Forum are invited to think about their individual expert opinion on how the TCA strategies and actions should be prioritized to support a transformative change towards sustainable development. This is done by applying the Q approach to consensus building, a method envisioned to support consensus decision-making in multilateral governance processes, for example in the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) or under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Yet, the approach is not limited to political negotiations and can also support discussions among, for example, academics and/or non-governmental organizations. Using the Q approach to consensus building can generally help valuing and recognizing diverse perspectives, making discussions more inclusive and meaningful. Interested conference participants get sets of cards to rank their priorities of the TCA strategies and actions, take a photo of the rankings, and are asked to fill in a short follow-up survey in which they upload the photos to an online repository. The rankings will then be used to identify shared perspectives among the participants, which will be circulated after the conference and may stimulate further discussions.