Achieving transformative change in biodiversity governance requires more than new tools—it demands a fundamental rethinking of how we value and relate to nature. This session examines how relational and constitutive values can inform more inclusive, pluralistic, and just governance. Building on the IPBES Values Assessment, which positioned relational values alongside intrinsic and instrumental values, we extend the conversation by introducing constitutive values—focusing on how valuations emerge over time through cultural practices, social interactions, and institutions. This shifts attention from the content of values to the processes that generate, sustain, and transform them, including how certain values come to dominate or decline.
Recognising these social and historical dynamics helps identify leverage points for change and engage with Indigenous and local knowledge systems—not only as sources of alternative values, but as reflections of distinct ontologies and governance logics. By foregrounding culturally embedded and historically situated modes of valuation, constitutive values illuminate context-sensitive, power-aware pathways for reconnecting people and nature.
The session invites presentations that explore: (1) how relational and constitutive values are produced, reproduced, or contested; (2) how tensions among values are negotiated in governance; (3) how socio-ecological change affects their durability or transformation; and (4) conceptual and methodological innovations for making these values actionable. Together, we aim to advance understanding of how culturally embedded values shape governance and to explore transformative pathways for navigating value pluralism.