To Action through Trust: Agriculture and Nature Protection in Dialogue

It is undisputed: the preservation and promotion of biodiversity are essential for a sustainable future, yet global losses are accelerating. To efficiently tackle this, science, policymakers, and practitioners should engage closely with one another to clarify what questions need answering. However, reality paints a different picture. We zoom in on Switzerland. Several policy–science initiatives exist, but the science–practice connection remains comparatively weak. This is where the Translational Centre Biodiversity (TCBC) steps in, using knowledge synthesis and capacity-building to identify gaps that hamper effective biodiversity promotion and to close them together with practice partners.

One recently identified gap revealed through interviews concerns dialogue competence between certain cantonal nature conservation offices and farmers. This phenomenon can be observed particularly when the canton designates agricultural land to be legally placed under protection for nature conservation. Ideally, a cantonal staff member visits the farmer managing the designated plot, explains the decision and its implications, outlines management changes, clarifies compensation, and the agreement is accepted. Nature protected. On to the next plot.

If only it were that simple. Although the procedure is carried out as described, many farmers react with resistance. They feel disempowered, not included in the decision-making process, deprived of their life’s mission of producing food, and cannot comprehend why exactly this plot should now be placed under protection when it served perfectly well for grazing their livestock. The rest is easy to imagine: harsh words, legal disputes, hardened fronts. This helps neither people nor biodiversity. TCBC wants to change that.

We aim to co-create shared ground. A cohort of cantonal staff (especially those without agronomic training) and farmer partners are co-designing and piloting a modular learning journey: foundational agricultural literacy adapted from a Swiss agricultural knowledge organization; a dialogue block from an agricultural–environmental consultancy; and a facilitated workshop to rehearse real cases. The process is end-to-end participatory, including needs assessment, joint material adaptation, design workshops, pilot delivery to selected cantons, and iterative feedback to refine and scale.

This co-creation is designed to fill trust gaps, not data gaps, so that the distance from decision to action can be shortened.