At the same time, it is crucial to recognize that the landscapes where agricultural expansion and intensification occur, and where ecosystem pressures converge, are frequently the very places where issues of environmental justice remain most acute. Moreover, conventional agriculture puts immense pressure on nature and jeopardizes the health of rural communities, while holding tenure over vast areas of land, and thereby, the ability to unlock some of these tensions and conflicts.
This session therefore seeks to explore the opportunities for scaling up NbS for a more sustainable agriculture through the lens of environmental justice. By doing so, it aims to highlight pathways for inclusive, equitable, and transformative approaches that strengthen both ecological integrity and social well-being.
In addressing today’s intricate ecological and societal challenges, long-term interventions that benefit both nature and people have gained traction under the umbrella term ‘Nature-based Solutions’ over the past decade. Multifunctional protected landscapes have emerged as one such solution to reconcile the different functions we expect nature to fulfil. Despite the surge in research on these landscapes, there is a need for more interdisciplinary and empirical research on the interplay of biodiversity protection and food system management.
We aim to contribute to understanding what conditions and pathways allow for successful integration of biodiversity and food systems, taking a broad perspective on food systems and the dynamic interactions across multiple scales. More specifically, we focus on the role of three pivotal, interrelated elements: human-nature connectedness, just landscape coalitions and social-ecological benefits. In doing so, we build on previous conceptualisations of justice (de Bruin et al. 2024), motivations and agency in collaborative landscape management (Turkelboom et al. in review), multiple dimensions of human-nature connectedness (Ives et al. 2018), and dynamics of social-ecological interdependencies (Barnaud et al. 2018).
These conditions and pathways towards how this reconciliation of biodiversity and food can be strengthened are grounded in both local realities and global insights. They result primarily from a qualitative comparative analysis (Ragin, 1987) we conducted across 21 cases, using a survey, rich case descriptions and expert workshops. Our findings reflect different types of agricultural practices, various histories, and varying levels of success in terms of biodiversity restoration and food sustainability.
We illustrate how top-down or bottom-up landscape coalitions are formed and to what extent their success depend on inclusivity, justice, power dynamics and socio-political structures on micro and macro levels. We also show how (environmentally) just practices are not self-evident in many contexts reconciling food and biodiversity. Barriers that need to be addressed include market driven changes in livelihood and exploitive practices, and enabling factors include bottom-up initiatives building alliances, trust, support for local communities and fostering interactions with nature.
How to cite: van Heel, B. and Torralba Viorreta, M. and the QCA contributors (alphabetical): Equitable reconciliation of biodiversity conservation and food system sustainability in protected landscapes, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-208, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-208, 2026.
How can we promote a sustainable and just future while staying within planetary boundaries? Nature-based solutions (NbS) - actions that work with nature to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and other societal challenges - are part of the answer. Many pilot NbS projects exist, but scaling them across regions, sectors, and communities is complex. When benefits and costs are unevenly distributed, questions of justice and fairness arise. These challenges are amplified when NbS are implemented at larger scales.
FairNature is an international research project co-funded by Biodiversa+ that develops approaches for scaling NbS that are fair, effective and transformative. The project brings together eight universities and research institutes across Europe, working with diverse stakeholders in six case studies in Belgium, Denmark, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Spain.
A key feature of FairNature’s approach is reflexive learning, where stakeholders and scientists collaborate in ‘reflexive labs’ within and across the six case studies. This helps us explore the justice implications of scaling NbS and evaluate existing practices – from their efficiency to their potential for fair application through scaling to new contexts over a wider geographical range.
In our research we consider multiple dimensions of scaling: scaling up (to higher policy levels), scaling down (reallocating necessary resources), scaling out (replicating over a wider special scale), scaling in (ensuring to have the institutional infrastructure in place), and scaling deep (changing norms, beliefs, values, and practices). Our understanding of justice is equally multi-dimensional, covering procedural justice (fairness in the decision-making process), distributive justice (fairness in distribution of resources), and recognition justice (acknowledging diverse values and voices of stakeholders).
The Action Case in the Netherlands concerns the upscaling of multifunctional agriculture-NbS, including sustainable housing, by looking at various existing pilots on farms and in municipalities. This Action Case has a layered governance structure with local professionals, councils and farmers; an intermediate layer of strategic experts; and national ministries and farmers' organisations.
The main project outcome will be the FairNature Guide: a practical framework with tools and policy recommendations to support NbS scaling which is fair and effective, ultimately supporting just transformative change for people and nature.
How to cite: Schaafsma, M., Krendelsberger, A., and Lehmann, I.: Developing NbS scaling approaches to achieve just transformative change – Insights from multifunctional agriculture in the Netherlands, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-807, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-807, 2026.
Secondary soil salinization is an accelerating global sustainability challenge that reduces agricultural productivity, erodes biodiversity, and undermines ecosystem resilience across diverse landscapes. Unlike primary salinization, which occurs over millennia through natural processes, secondary salinization develops within years to decades, driven by climate change and human activities. Affected landscapes exhibit symptoms beyond elevated soil salinity, including structural soil degradation, compaction, loss of soil organic matter, vegetation loss and diminished soil health. These interacting processes degrade ecosystem functions and create feedback loops that intensify land degradation. Although empirical data remain limited, widespread reports from practitioners and communities indicate multitaxon biodiversity collapse in saline agroecosystems. Understanding the drivers of this collapse is critical. While salt stress is often assumed to be the main cause, evidence from naturally saline landscapes suggests that soil structural degradation, habitat loss, overgrazing, and land abandonment exert stronger influences on terrestrial biodiversity than salinity alone.
Against this backdrop, we explore Nature-based Solutions (NbS), understood as actions to address societal challenges through the protection, sustainable management and restoration of ecosystems, in saline landscapes. Halophytes, plants adapted to saline environments, offer opportunities to enhance species diversity, improve soil health, and increase agricultural yields, addressing key challenges of secondary salinization.
In this article, we identify halophyte-based NbS and determine their potential to restore biodiversity in salt-affected agricultural landscapes. We address this objective by monitoring biodiversity dynamics in natural and agricultural saline landscapes, implementing saline NbS in six locations and analyzing relationships between agricultural practices, ecological processes, and ecosystem services in salt-degraded systems using a mixed-methods approach. Our findings demonstrate how saline NbS can support high-nature value and climate-resilient agriculture, offering a pathway to upscale productivity, diversify livelihoods, and bend both the land degradation and biodiversity loss curves under global change. This work contributes to scientific debates on sustainable agriculture and informs policy discussions on the effectiveness of NbS in salt-affected lands.
How to cite: Bazihizina, N. and Negacz, K. and the Full author team: Burden to Opportunity: Unlocking the Potential of Salt-affected Lands through High-nature Agriculture, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-894, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-894, 2026.
Smallholder farmers in East Africa face intensifying climatic and agronomic challenges, including increasingly erratic rainfall, heat stress, and degraded soils. In this context, Nature-based Solutions (NbS) that enhance biodiversity and agroecosystem functioning at both farm and landscape scales are becoming critically important. We evaluated two farmer-led NbS: conservation agriculture (CA)—minimal soil disturbance, diversified cropping, and soil cover—and farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR), a landscape-scale practice that restores degraded land from over-grazing, excessive tillage, and deforestation. Across seven years of on-farm CA adoption on 90 farms across variable agroecological zones in Kenya and Ethiopia, we observed consistent improvements in soil health and biodiversity relative to conventional agricultural practices. CA increased aggregate stability, microbial respiration, infiltration capacity, and soil organic carbon, with the strongest gains in clay-rich soils. Beneficial and neutral insect diversity were also higher under CA, suggesting broad agroecosystem benefits. Farmer-based indicators (hoe test, infiltration scores) closely mirrored laboratory measurements, highlighting their utility as low-cost, scalable monitoring tools. Importantly, many farmers continued CA practices after project completion, citing reduced labour, lower reliance on purchased inputs, and improved yield stability. At landscape scales, FMNR data from a semi-arid Kenyan site showed that FMNR substantially increased soil carbon stocks. Across 25 FMNR fields, soil carbon was significantly higher than in neighbouring conventional sites, while soil infiltration and microbial activity trended positively. Insect abundance and diversity did not differ between FMNR and conventional farms, though this system may take more time to recover. Taken together, these results show that CA and FMNR operate as complementary NbS: CA enhances on-farm soil function, in-field biodiversity, and climate resilience, while FMNR rebuilds woody and herbaceous cover and stores large amounts of carbon at landscape scales. Integrating these approaches can provide a powerful pathway for restoring agroecosystem biodiversity, strengthening smallholder livelihoods, and improving long-term sustainability under a changing climate.
How to cite: Loewen, S., Mukungu, L., Enns, A., Mbingo, J., Mathewos, M., Salomons, M., and Entz, M.: Strategies to increase biodiversity at the farm and landscape level in East Africa, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-556, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-556, 2026.
Narok County lies within the African tropical savanna range-lands, which experiences unpredictable, severe, and frequent floods with prolonged droughts due to climate change. The predominant Maasai community are traditionally pastoralists. However, they are quickly adopting agro-pastoral practices as a response to the changing ecological challenges. The community has embraced diverse livelihood strategies and land uses that have significantly changed the savanna ecosystems in land cover and vegetation composition due to agropastoral activities despite their lack of capacity to adjust to the effects of climate change. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are highly relevant for achieving social-ecological resilience in specific local Social Ecological Systems (SESs). However, a general understanding of the existing NbS interventions in Narok County, their effectiveness and potential benefits to the agro-pastoralists was lacking. This study therefore created visions for the future related to land use change, and examined the possibility of NbS enhancing resilience in the SES of Narok county. The study used a participatory scenario analysis tool (KESHO) using different Land Use Land Cover Change (LULCC) maps of the selected periods between 1989 and 2024 to determine possible NbS pathways through a workshop with the communities, actors involved in environmental conservation and disaster management, and those supporting agriculture in Narok County. The secondary data sets included land-use activities measured through remote sensing technology, and the Landsat datasets sourced from USGS Earth Explorer and Sentinel images high resolution from Copernicus Satellite. Visual images were then created by modelling different land cover scenarios. The workshops created a shared future thinking and strategic foresight to achieve a holistic planning and development approach to deal with issues of food insecurity, biodiversity loss and climate change risks. A shared system understanding of the local dynamic key drivers of change was developed, and recommendations for adaptation pathways to address failures were formulated. The results give insights into the effectiveness of NbS-interventions across grasslands while targeting vulnerable pastoral communities in the Global South. Such knowledge has a significant potential in addressing the combined crisis of climate change and biodiversity loss. This outcome will strengthen and upscale adoption of NbS interventions.
How to cite: Othigo, E.: The Role of Nature Based Solutions in Enhancing Resilience of Agropastoral Social Ecological System in the Face of a Changing Climate in Narok County, Kenya, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-528, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-528, 2026.
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) address global challenges by mitigating climate change, conserving biodiversity and improving livelihoods. However, the potential of NbS to deliver these benefits in global south remains under-researched. This study investigated the linkages between Nature-based Solutions, climate variability and grassland conservation in Turkana County, Kenya between 1990-2023. Precipitation and temperature data were obtained from Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS) and the TERRACLIMATE data portal. Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) data was gathered based on the CRU TS 4.07 dataset while data on grasslands were obtained from Land and Carbon Lab. Data on NbS was gathered through 10 Key Informant Interviews and eight Focus Group Discussions (FGD). There was a 7.43mm, 0.02 ºC and 0.95 ºC increase in precipitation, maximum temperatures (Tmax) and minimum temperatures (Tmin) respectively. There was a significant annual rise (0.0157) in SPEI values over the same period, an indication of reduced meteorological droughts. Correlation analysis revealed a significant relationship between precipitation and land under grasslands, (r= 0.625324, P= 0.001419) with precipitation explaining 36.2% of the size of land under grasslands. Regression analysis further established that SPEI explains about 24% of the total size of land under natural semi natural grasslands in the study area (r2 = 0.24617, P= 0.009358). The major NbS interventions in this region are deferred grazing, rangeland reseeding, use of exclosures, rotational grazing, afforestation by indigenous and fruit trees, agroforestry, integrated pest management, kitchen gardens and water pans. Majority of the NbS are established by religious organizations, government and non-governmental organizations with major focus of enhancing livestock production, economic recovery, natural resource management, climate change adaptation, mitigation, building resilience, water and sanitation intervention, improved human health, nutrition, peace building and education. There was a 14.25km2 annual decline in land under natural semi-natural grasslands and an annual increase of 14.89km2 in land under other land uses. Correlation analysis revealed a strong negative correlation between the size of land under grasslands and the other land uses (r=-0.99971 P=0.0000). Land use changes through the establishment of NbS has contributed to reduced meteorological droughts and improved livelihoods in the region.
How to cite: Masayi, N. and Olago, D.: Interlinkages between Nature-based Solutions, Climate Variability and Grassland Conservation for Sustainable Community Livelihoods in African Savannas, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-513, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-513, 2026.
The rapid expansion of the biopesticide market offers a pivotal opening for sustainable agriculture in the Global South, where environmental pressures, regulatory shifts, and consumer demand for healthier food systems are accelerating interest in biological inputs. While biopesticides are often promoted as inherently safer and more “nature-based,” their development is unfolding within political–economic landscapes marked by power imbalances, corporate concentration, and persistent environmental injustices. Without deliberate alignment with agroecological principles, the sector risks reproducing the structural lock-ins of the synthetic pesticide industry—ranging from input dependency and uniform product portfolios to the marginalization of small-scale producers and context-specific knowledge.
This poster draws on a new policy checklist designed to guide countries in developing decentralised, nationally rooted biopesticide sectors that contribute to equitable and ecologically grounded agricultural transitions. It outlines four major threats facing current trajectories: (1) the uncritical substitution of chemical inputs with “greener” ones, rather than pursuing systemic agroecological change; (2) increasing corporate concentration that sidelines SMEs, farmers, and indigenous knowledge systems; (3) narrowing innovation pathways that lead to product uniformity and reduced ecological fit; and (4) weak regulatory frameworks that risk legitimising biopesticides as sustainable while failing to ensure safety, justice, and genuine contribution to resilient food systems.
In response, this checklist proposes a guiding framework built around four action areas to support policy makers, agroecological advocacy actors and agricultural entrepreneurs on how to develop the biopesticide sector. The framework emphasises participatory innovation ecosystems, local enterprise development (particularly for youth and SMEs), context-adapted regulation, and investment models that strengthen biodiversity, autonomy, and farmer agency. By situating biopesticides within broader agroecological and nature-based strategies, the approach reframes them not simply as alternative inputs, but as potential levers for just ecological transitions. This vision positions African countries to chart a development pathway that enhances ecosystem health while advancing consumers and farmers ability to produce, purchase and consume safe food.
How to cite: Surchat, M., Fegert, M., Pavageau, C., and Garcia Ulloa, J.: Biopesticides Beyond the Hype: A checklist to develop a locally-led, agroecologically-rooted biopesticide sector, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-292, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-292, 2026.
