This session brings together researchers from the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security, the Leibniz Peace Research Institute Frankfurt and the Institute for Social-Ecological Research, who are engaged in collaborative efforts to better integrate non-material NCPs into biodiversity science, policy and practice.
Building on a recent cross-institutional dialogue, the session will explore stakeholder values, trade-offs, conflicts, and scale-related challenges in assessing non-material NCPs and their implications for policy making. Participants will share approaches and identify synergies across disciplines and institutions, with the goal of informing more inclusive and policy-relevant biodiversity research.
The session is open to researchers, practitioners and societal actors working at the science-policy interface on NCPs, ecosystem services, biodiversity governance and transformative change, including representatives of science-policy platforms, MEAs, Indigenous and local knowledge holders and biodiversity decision-makers. Contributors will share conceptual insights and applied approaches, highlighting synergies between different disciplines and institutions. The emphasis will be on how these contributions can inform more inclusive, value-sensitive and policy-relevant biodiversity planning and decision-making. The aim is to contribute to bridging the gap between conceptual work and actionable insights for addressing biodiversity challenges.
As ecosystem restoration accelerates worldwide, understanding how people prioritise the benefits they derive from nature is essential for designing interventions that are inclusive, legitimate, and sustainable. However, the integration of non-material Nature’s Contributions to People (NCPs) into restoration research and policy remains limited, although these contributions are increasingly recognised as central to how societies relate to biodiversity and the landscapes they depend on. This gap is particularly consequential in Madagascar, a global biodiversity hotspot where dependence on natural resources is high and ecosystem restoration is urgent. Despite national pledges to restore four million hectares, little empirical evidence exists on how priorities for non-material and regulating NCPs differ within and across actor groups involved in or affected by ecosystem restoration. To address this gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 1,200 local community members across 30 villages in Madagascar to document the benefits they prioritise in their daily lives and in relation to ecosystem restoration. This work is complemented by ongoing surveys of approximately 500 people, members of stakeholder groups operating at district, regional, and national scales, including government agencies, civil society organisations, and restoration practitioners. Taken together, these cross-scale datasets provide an unprecedented opportunity to examine priority heterogeneity in ways that reveal how restoration outcomes are interpreted, supported, or contested by different actors. Such heterogeneity has direct implications for the social feasibility, uptake, and long-term legitimacy of ecosystem restoration interventions. Preliminary analyses show that many local community members prioritise non-material NCPs, such as social cohesion and cultural continuity, alongside regulating NCPs, such as water regulation. Substantial intra-group variability emerges, partially shaped by socioeconomic differences. Anticipated comparisons across actor groups are expected to reveal contrasting priorities, with institutional stakeholders likely to prioritise regulating NCPs more strongly. The findings will clarify where shared hopes for ecosystem benefits emerge and where differing priorities could generate conflicts, providing an empirical basis for anticipating tensions and identifying cooperative pathways in ecosystem restoration planning. By grounding restoration efforts in the priorities that different actors consider meaningful, this work aims to support strategies that are more socially credible and resilient over time.
How to cite: Raveloaritiana, E., Martin, D., Randriamboavonjy, K., Ravaonorosoa, M. J., Randriamahefa, R. C., Lemy, M. F., Fulgence, T. R., and Santos, M. J.: Shared hopes and conflicting priorities on Nature Contributions to People and ecosystem restoration in a global biodiversity hotspot, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-671, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-671, 2026.
The research programme ValPar.CH (“Nature’s Values and Services in Switzerland”) explores the multiple values and contributions of nature from ecological, societal, and economic perspectives. While the programme’s results highlight the importance of biodiversity and NCPs for well-being and sustainable development, a major challenge remains: translating this growing body of knowledge—particularly regarding non-material and relational values of nature—into practice and policy. Especially relational and other non-material contributions, such as sense of place, cultural identity, and social cohesion, are increasingly acknowledged as crucial for transformative biodiversity governance, yet remain underrepresented in decision-support tools.
To bridge this gap, a follow-up project developed, through a process of knowledge co-production, an interactive online database that provides practitioners and policy-makers at different institutional levels with barrier-free access to policy-relevant research outputs. Guided by an accompanying group composed of representatives from cantonal administrations, municipalities, parks, and NGOs, the project identifies concrete questions emerging from practice in the fields of planning, governance, and communication. These questions guide the structuring of the database, which integrates scientific findings, spatial models, research data, story maps, and best-practice examples. By responding directly to practitioners’ articulated needs, the platform enhances usability and ensures that scientific insights on non-material NCPs are connected to real-world decision contexts.
Users will be able to browse thematic entries and explore how different types of values—including relational and other non-material contributions—can inform concrete actions and decision-making processes. The project thus operationalizes ValPar.CH’s integrative approach by linking diverse forms of knowledge, fostering mutual learning, and transforming scientific evidence into actionable insights.
By making relational values and other non-material contributions visible and usable for decision-makers, it aims to strengthen the social legitimacy of biodiversity policy, enhance cross-sectoral collaboration, and support the implementation of the Swiss Biodiversity Strategy. The results and the online database will be presented at the World Biodiversity Forum 2026 as a model of co-produced, policy-relevant science at the interface between research and practice. This contribution will also reflect on lessons learned from the co-production process and outline opportunities for upscaling similar approaches in other national and regional contexts.
How to cite: Keller, R., Steiger, U., Reynard, E., and Grêt-Regamey, A.: From Concept to Practice: Co-producing an Online Knowledge Platform to Integrate Relational Values into Biodiversity Planning and Governance in Switzerland, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-182, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-182, 2026.
Biodiversity loss continues at an alarming rate but in order for transformational change to occur we need to know our place on Mother Earth. The Mi'kmaw Nation is located in eastern Turtle Island or what is now referred to as Canada. Their ancestral territory of Mi'ma'ki is unceded and falls under the Peace and Friendship treaties signed with the British crown in the 1700's. These treaties uphold the right for Mi'kmaq to practice their traditional activities and laws. Mi'kmaw guiding principles or laws handed down from generation to generation dictate how each individual is to act on land, sea, and sky. Unama'ki Institute of Natural Resources (UINR) was established in 1999, represents five Mi'kmaw First Nation communities, and operates on the principles of Netukulimk (responsibility to use resources wisely), Etuaptmumk (two-eyed seeing), and Msit no'kmaq (all our relations). UINR works in partnership with Mi'kmaw communities, crown governments, academic institutions, and conservation organizations on projects that fulfill the responsibility to protect Unama'ki (Cape Breton Island) for future generations.
These wholistic and multi-dimensional projects can be categorized into colonial terms as co-governance of protected areas (marine and terrestrial), natural climate solutions (protection of old growth forests, barrier beaches, and nearshore vegetation), biocultural system services (using culture and ecosystems to create valuation), and bi-national biocultural landscape connectivity (Canada and USA). Using Etuaptmumk or two-eyed seeing, developed by Mi'kmaw Elder Albert Marshall, means traditional and western science knowledges were used for decision-making in each project. Co-designing, co-learning, and co-governing projects lead to strong, respectful relationships with each other and Mother Earth. By implementing and monitoring these projects long-term, Mi'kmaq can demonstrate the power of culture, acting as a collective, traditional laws, and knowing your place. This presentation will give you an eagle's eye view of UINR's work and how it is changing the conservation landscape.
How to cite: Nash, T.: An Etupatmumk (two-eyed seeing) approach to protecting biocultural diversity and caring for Msit no'kmaq (all my relations) in Unama'ki, Canada., World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-294, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-294, 2026.
Non-material Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP) are notoriously challenging to quantify due to their reliance on subjective human experiences. Addressing this challenge requires integrative approaches across ecological and socio-cultural perspectives. Soundscapes are a powerful entry point, as they encompass sounds generated by natural environments and are one of the most accessible pathways of nature experience, i.e., listening to nature. By combining bioacoustic methods with analyses of social preferences, this study explores how the acoustic dimension of biodiversity connects people to nature across cultural contexts. Using Mount Kilimanjaro’s diverse soundscapes, we explored how listening to nature shapes non-material NCP experiences among residents and tourists across different habitats. Overall, dawn soundscapes (i.e., morning choruses) were preferred, likely due to the prominence of birdsong and the greater diversity of other sound sources compared to the louder, insect-dominated dusk soundscapes (i.e., evening choruses). However, the specific habitats associated with these preferred soundscapes, and the non-material NCP linked to them, differed markedly between residents and tourists, revealing distinct ways each group experiences nature. Residents favoured soundscapes from habitats where they live and work, such as maize fields, homegardens, and coffee plantations, whereas tourists preferred soundscapes with minimal human-generated sounds, such as those from sub-alpine habitats. Furthermore, soundscapes evoked distinct non-material NCP, such as cultural heritage for residents and restorative experiences for tourists. Linking these perceptions to acoustic indices revealed how different acoustic properties of biodiversity support seven out of the eleven non-material NCP assessed. For instance, restorative experiences were associated with soundscapes that balanced acoustic evenness and complexity (i.e., birdsong-rich but not acoustically saturated), whereas aesthetic experiences were linked primarily to high acoustic complexity, even in highly saturated soundscapes (i.e., diverse vocalizing species). Associating non-material NCP with specific habitats further showed that local residents also value soundscapes within the protected area, despite access restrictions. These restrictions can erode the significance of otherwise culturally salient places and hence weaken local support for nature protection when local perspectives are ignored. By connecting experiential, sensory, and ecological dimensions, this research provides empirical tools and conceptual pathways to strengthen non-material NCP research and embed its insights into decision-making.
How to cite: Degano, M. E., Böhning-Gaese, K., Dulle, H. I., Gross, M., Hemp, C., Kinabo, N. R., Lehnen, L., Martín-López, B., Mueller, T., and Arbieu, U.: Leveraging soundscapes to identify biodiversity’s role in non-material nature’s contributions to multiple social actors, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-589, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-589, 2026.
Protected areas (PA) are crucial for in-situ conservation of native biodiversity. However, with growing human-wildlife conflict in the fringe-areas of PAs in most developing countries, securing local support for conservation has remained a persistent challenge in conservation governance. To better understand the social dynamics of conservation governance, this study employed a survey of 2,121 households residing in the buffer zones of six protected areas spanning global biodiversity hotspots in Nepal and employed structural equation modeling approach to evaluate the direct and indirect effects of wildlife tolerance, perceived costs, tangible and intangible benefits of living near protected areas, and trust in conservation institutions on public attitudes toward protected areas.
Results show that positive attitudes of local people toward protected areas are strongly mediated by wildlife tolerance, which itself is shaped positively by intangible benefits and trust in conservation institutions, but negatively by directional vulnerability expressed as human-to-wildlife impacts. This pattern underscores the importance of investing in strategies that mitigate damages from and conflicts with wildlife, as such conflicts diminish tolerance and, in turn, public support for protected areas. The analysis further reveals contrasting effects of tangible versus intangible benefits, as well as opposing forms of directional vulnerability (i.e., wildlife-to-human versus human-to-wildlife) on attitudes toward protected areas. Tangible benefits, while valued, did not exhibit the same consistent positive influence on tolerance or attitudes as intangible benefits, such as cultural and ecosystem services. Meanwhile, perceptions of vulnerability in both directions demonstrated that attitudes are shaped not solely by material costs but by broader relational dynamics between people and wildlife.
This presentation will demonstrate how local communities understand the benefits, costs, and directional vulnerabilities associated with protected areas established for biodiversity protection. It will also discuss the implications of these perceptions for conservation governance, highlighting the need to strengthen trust, enhance tolerance, and mitigate costs and vulnerabilities to improve the long-term effectiveness of protected area management and biodiversity conservation.
How to cite: Poudyal, N., Silwal, T., and Joshi, O.: Evaluating social drivers of biodiversity conservation in protected areas: Benefits, costs, trust, and directional vulnerability in Nepal, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-739, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-739, 2026.
Addressing multiple global challenges like climate change, land degradation, biodiversity loss and sustainable development requires holistic actions which account for the diverse needs of people and ecosystems and maximise co-benefits while avoiding trade-offs which hinder progress. The IPBES Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP) framework promotes the visibility of “non-material” NCPs, including learning and inspiration, physical and psychological experiences and supporting identities, to be equitably accounted for in decision-making processes alongside material and regulating NCPs. Non-material NCPs are central to understanding how people value, connect to, and interact with nature and thus how they make decisions about nature and the sustainable use of natural resources. Challenges remain however in how to effectively evaluate, communicate and assess non-material NCPs and their relevance in different contexts. This creates a potential barrier to their cohesive inclusion in strategies to address global challenges.
In order to better understand how non-material NCPs are perceived and utilised in complex science-policy contexts, we are conducting a systematic review of how they are represented, framed, and operationalized across major science-policy assessments related to global frameworks addressing global challenges, such as those from the IPCC, IPBES, UNCCD and the Global Sustainable Development Report. We identify where and how non-material NCP are described, the language and perspectives used, and the extent to which they inform policy options through a combination of keyword searches and qualitative content analysis. Highlighting strengths and weaknesses of different approaches for integrating non-material NCPs into science-policy assessments, this analysis will identify entry points for more consistent and inclusive integation of non-material NCPs across high-level policy contexts and how they could be better realised for their role in addressing multiple global challenges.
Early insights from this ongoing work will contribute to the session’s broader discussion on bridging concepts and practice to support the development of more inclusive and holistic approaches to biodiversity research and decision-making which better accounts for the diverse values of nature.
How to cite: O'Connor, J., Hartmann, L., Janzen, S., Krug, C., Degano, E., Troung, T. R., Rabeschini, G., Mehring, M., Rauchecker, M., Peter, S., Hummel, D., Niess, S., Niamir, A., and Walz, Y.: Making the intangible more tangible: how non-material nature’s contributions to people are integrated by different science-policy assessments, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-877, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-877, 2026.
“Nature is a crucial building block, or dependency for virtually any company” and “biodiversity is the bedrock of life and a cornerstone of sustainable development”. Those two narratives, the first by André Hoffmann, vice-chairman of Roche Holding and former vice-president of World Wide Fund for Nature WWF, and the second, by António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, highlight that nature is not only highly relevant as an economic resource, but also for our well-being. As we face mental distress at the individual level and major disruptions in companies due to permanent global challenges, we need to build up resilience, flexibility, and agility. Being in nature favourably strengthens mental and psychological health.
Our approach of “conscious forest dialogue” promotes listening, reflection and change of perspective during guided team walks in Swiss forests. It is based on the "Theory U" approach by Otto Scharmer where we perceive, connect, let come and pursue the impulses for collective action to lead to transformation. We use analogies and metaphors about forest and forestry, mindfulness practices as well as theories and models that respond to the needs of teams and organisations.
Participants improve their perception and discover the forest with new eyes and increased natural intelligence. They recognise that many strategies of nature can be applied to human endeavours. Forest walks sensitize and inspire teams providing them with valuable ideas for their development, subsequently leading to higher resilience, effective communication and collaborative creative processes. Learning about nature and recognising its value for universal well-being and sustainable development, encourages transformation of human behaviour and collective action.
In this regard, people start supporting narratives as mentioned above, will locally care more about nature and responsibly engage in the conserving and enhancing of biodiversity that is urgently needed. Our approach as a non-material Nature’s Contribution to People fosters transformative change for acting in a responsible and respectful manner towards nature and our society.
How to cite: Hilfiker, K. and Walker, B.: Connecting company teams with nature in Swiss forests for transformative change, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-523, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-523, 2026.
