The benefits that the average person receives from biodiversity are even less comprehended.
Yet public support for the elements that promote biodiversity is essential, as those elements are so nebulous. And it’s almost impossible to explain with words.
Art, however, can tell that story. Humans are visual, dialog rarely changes minds. Opinions change with personal contact/emotion/impact. We respond to emotional appeal, and that is how art engages. And once engaged, people desire more: knowledge understanding, grasp.
And thus “art” can explain science. It makes people interested, and then they want to know more.
My contention is: most people do not understand what biodiversity means—nor the intricate science that supports it. Yet without public understanding there is no collective pressure on policymakers to protect what is vanishing. Science may rest on data, but humans are visual, intuitive creatures. Even scientists often begin by seeing— tracing meaning from a pattern, a color, a shape– before the hypothesis takes form.
We inhabit an age measured in seconds-long attention spans. Social media unleashes a flood of emotionally charged imagery—much of it generated by “AI” tools—designed to provoke, distort, and manipulate. These images can persuade viewers to vote against their own interests while feeding doubt about the scientific truths that shape our future. Meanwhile, science communication is often in numbers. graphs, and diagrams that exhausted audiences do not take the time to absorb.
By tracing historical moments where art and science worked in symbiosis, and examining the contemporary tools now at our fingertips, I aim to show why this synergy matters more than ever. In my own work, I create photographs and videos that are, at first glance, ironically beautiful—luminescent colors, elegant forms. Only later does the viewer realize they are looking at terrifying environmental realities. The beauty draws them in; the truth holds them there. Fascination becomes curiosity; curiosity becomes engagement. And through that bridge, the science behind the image becomes meaningful and personal.
I argue for a new mode of science communication: We must use every tool available to create imagery that explains, inspires, unsettles, and ultimately compels action.
The biodiversity crisis is vast—so vast that only systemic, collective change can slow it. And such change happens only when enough people feel, not just understand, the magnitude of the threat. If the public cannot connect emotionally to what is at stake, they cannot demand the remedies needed.
In a world saturated with distraction, the challenge is clear: scientific truth must be communicated in ways that captivate. Art is not optional in this effort—it is essential. For only when science touches the heart does it move society.
How to cite: Fair, H.: Art Meets Science, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-664, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-664, 2026.
In my lecture I’ll talk about contemporary art that deals with environmental issues, engages in efforts to protect natural habitats and raise awareness for the importance of biodiversity for our survival and wellbeing.
There are numerous artists working in this field. I will discuss the projects of internationally established figures like Olafur Eliasson, Pierre Huyghe, A.K. Dolven, Precious Okoyomon, Henry Fair, and their different approaches and mediums.
For the longest time it was assumed the artists’ methods were purely intuitive. There was no hard evidence that looking at pictures could change the viewers’ mind. But new studies in neuroscience have shown exactly that. Art has the power to change the way we see the world. In recent years, scientists have moved away from classic philosophical questions of beauty to explore the processes by which art can transform us. I will give an overview of recent neuroscientific research on what happens in the brain when we experience art, and introduce key figures in the field like Wolf Singer, Lisa Feldman and Antonio Damasio.
Key findings of their research:
- People engage with the arts in a variety of ways, sometimes reporting transformative experiences.
- When interacting with art one finds meaningful, the default mode network—a brain region associated with introspection—is engaged.
- Aesthetic experiences may promote positive outcomes such as empathy, social connection, and cross-cultural understanding.
Major museums and art foundations like Naturkundemuseum Berlin or TBA21 in Vienna giving substancial space and funding to environmental art, are an indicator for the growing interest and understanding in the transformative power of art. Fondazione Prada in Milan and Venice has initiated a whole research project on the subject. Since 2018 they are hosting major exhibitions and conferences on the topic of Art and the Human Brain.
As an art critic and magazine editor I have covered the art world and written extensively about the power of art. I’m interested in neuroscience and nature.
How to cite: Thon, U. Ä.: How Art Transforms The Human Brain. Unleashing the power of neuroaesthetics for environmental change, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-795, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-795, 2026.
For years, science has sent a clear message: the loss of biodiversity threatens the fundamental basis of our existence. However, the complexities of the interrelationships are difficult to grasp. Innovative forms of communication are needed to illustrate scientific facts and reach people outside the scientific community. How can this be achieved without coming across as moralizing or condescending?
In a collaboration between scientists and a graphics class, we co-create two- and three-dimensional objects as representations of the concrete benefits of biodiversity. These representations communicate scientific facts from a matrix of four habitat types—forest, meadow, agricultural, urban—crossed with four biodiversity provisions—soils, elements and species, biomass, energy and climate. Each object uses different sizes, shapes, and colors of graphical elements to integrate scientific data into a composition that attracts the viewer and invites them to explore pattern and meaning. The inspiration for implementation derives from artistic representations of nature such as in expressionism, pointillism, or concrete and constructive art.
The initial aesthetic impression is followed by emotions that may be contradictory. This leads to deeper reflection, resulting in an appreciation of the value of biodiversity itself, as well as its value to us and to all life around us. Once a representation is understood, it becomes easier to detect relevant biodiversity-positive information in subsequent objects. A playful desire to decipher the other representations is awakened, and this active engagement has a lasting effect. Our aim is to raise the viewers’ awareness, responsibility, and action towards a biodiversity-positive future. One of the project’s strengths is its collaboration with young people from a graphic-design class. It gives the young generation a voice on one of the most pressing issues of our time. The project provides them with a practical environment that goes beyond the scope of traditional teaching. It is planned that the objects described here are presented on site or nearby during the conference.
How to cite: Schmid, B., Chmelik, J., Koch, R., and Seebauer, M.: Biodiversity x Graphics Design: Concrete Benefits for People and Planet, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-165, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-165, 2026.
Biological diversity encompasses the diversity of all animal and plant species, the diversity of all ecosystems and the genetic diversity within species. It is the basis of human existence, providing food, health and well-being. However, in recent decades, the rate of biodiversity loss has accelerated dramatically as a result of human activities. Unfortunately, despite the escalating situation, public awareness of the ongoing biodiversity crisis remains low. The registered association InUrFaCE therefore seeks to address this important issue by collaborating with renowned street artists and biodiversity researchers. Together, they create eye-catching murals that grab the public's attention, promoting awareness of and appreciation for biological diversity within society and encouraging individuals to protect it. Before work begins on the mural, InUrFaCE organises an interdisciplinary 'artists/scientists' workshop. During a guided tour, the artists gain insight into the scientists' work and are given an overview of biodiversity. The artists and scientists then collaborate on ideas for engaging the public through murals. So far, three successful projects have been carried out in Bonn and Hamburg, Germany, in collaboration with the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB). These projects have been supported by the Dr. Hans Riegel-Foundation (project 1 in Bonn's Old Town and project 3 in Hamburg), Deutsche Bahn (project 2 at the UN Campus train station) and Union Investment (project 3 in Hamburg). As positive emotions are more likely to motivate action, beauty and wonder were used to evoke these feelings. The artists involved were Roman de Laporte (Jack Lack), Kai Niederhausen (Semor), Anna Taut and Pascal Flühmann (Kkade). The advantage of street art is that it is accessible to everyone free of charge. It also enables us to step out of our 'scientific ivory tower' and use large-scale murals in public spaces - museums and institutes often only reach a small audience of experts and those interested in biodiversity. Artists, on the other hand, have enormous reach through their public presentations and online platforms such as artist websites, Instagram, etc., and can reach a previously untapped audience.
How to cite: Greve, C., Niederhausen, K., de Laporte, R., and Gimnich, F.: InUrFaCE - Initiative of Urban Facades Creature Exposition, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-149, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-149, 2026.
In this presentation, I will demonstrate how ancient rock art can be used as a powerful and accessible method for teaching the importance of biodiversity to human well-being—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. As some of the earliest visual narratives created by human societies, rock art portrays animals, plants, and ecological relationships with remarkable detail, revealing how deeply early humans understood and depended upon the living world. These images show that biodiversity shaped not only survival, but also identity, meaning, and spiritual life. In my teaching, rock art has been an effective tool across multiple ages and educational levels, helping learners connect complex ecological science to human experience without relying on technical language.
By engaging learners through image, art, and narrative, the biodiversity depicted in ancient art becomes a natural bridge to contemporary conservation challenges. Much early rock art appears in landscapes shaped by movement and migration—of both humans and wildlife. This mirrors today’s emphasis on ecological corridors, which maintain genetic flow, enable species to adapt to climate pressures, and prevent the isolation that drives extinction. These corridors also safeguard cultural landscapes. Protecting them strengthens both biodiversity and Indigenous cultural survival, highlighting the inseparability of ecological and cultural resilience. The same regions that support endangered species, such as the eastern lowland gorilla, often contain ancestral knowledge and long-standing cultural narratives, underscoring the deep connections between cultural heritage and ecological health.
Narrative plays a central role in this approach. Humans often understand scientific meaning through story rather than statistics, making narrative-based teaching especially effective. Rock art provides ready-made narrative frameworks that can illustrate how biodiversity supports physical well-being through food systems, clean water, and disease regulation; emotional well-being through relationships to place and nature; and spiritual well-being through meaning, continuity, and identity.
By pairing ancient imagery with contemporary ecological narratives, biodiversity education becomes more relatable and ethically compelling. Rock art emerges not only as a record of the past, but also as a guide for the future—showing that the health of the natural world is inseparable from the health of human societies.
How to cite: bowman, K.: Ancient Rock Art as a Pathway to Teaching Biodiversity and Human Well-Being , World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-696, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-696, 2026.
The transformation necessary to preserve biodiversity can only come from a meeting of science and the public.
Regular people must connect with the science if we are to drive the necessary change. It can only happen together.
We are all in the knowledge transfer business, approaching it in different ways. Some use data from the NASA Aqua satellite, orbiting 705km above the earth. Others paint, or sing, or photograph.
Either way, we are all collecting, digesting, adding value, and then re-sharing what we know. Using examples from more than three decades of work with corporations, nonprofits, and foundations I will share what we know works to engage people at an emotional level. This could provide a roadmap biodiversity scientists can use to effectively share, engage, and motivate people.
As humans we are multisensory creatures and the choices we make are informed as much by emotions as by rational thought.
While scientists may stand back, careful not to interfere with experiments or observations, a lump of clay without a sculptor is just a lump of clay.
Scientific data alone will not preserve the planet’s biodiversity. We need to learn how to sculpt knowledge so it speaks to people.
I will engage participants by describing connections, communications, and change as they could apply to the field of biodiversity science. We will learn together how the arts can facilitate massive shifts in understanding the fundamentals of biodiversity.
Using images, short video clips, and sound I will demonstrate how valuable the arts are in explaining tremendously complicated scientific issues. And we will explore the interplay between what scientists discover and what the arts can explain.
Using an example from participating members of the audience, we will sculpt a powerful narrative and story to bring a scientific discovery to life. How to effectively share the tremendous knowledge the scientific community has about biodiversity. How to touch people emotionally. So that broad swaths of the public learn to care – and take care of our world, together.
How to cite: Halperin, J.: Connection: The Common Denominator Shared by Art and Science, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-775, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-775, 2026.
Samira Hodaei is an Iranian artist whose work takes influence from her
nation’s traditions, contemporary culture, and her concerns for the future, to
create beautiful works that touch viewers on many levels. Like all great art,
some of the references are discerned, others subliminal.
Several recent collections examine the devastating impacts the oil industry
has had on the people and the environment in her native country. These
works are simultaneously literal and conceptual, but never beyond
comprehension by even the most unaware viewer.
Scientific research is often her starting point, as is the folk art of Iran.
“My recent projects explore environmental issues and the impact of heavy
industries, especially the oil industry, on natural environments. Rather than
mere representations of landscapes, these works function as meditations on
loss, resilience and the fragile connections that tie human and natural
histories together.
Created in the oil-rich south of Iran, the Headless Palms series symbolises
the resilience of local communities and the gradual erosion of their daily
lives. The physiology of a palm tree mirrors that of the human body: once its
head is cut off, the tree withers and dies. For the people of southern Iran, the
palm tree is more than just a plant: it is a cherished legacy, a steadfast
companion and a symbol of resilience. Compounded by drought, oil pollution
and rising water salinity, the war decimated more than half of the region's six
million palm trees. In these paintings, the headless palms stand like bodies
in a landscape that extends beyond the frame and into timelessness.
During my research on oil pollution in the Persian Gulf, one of the region's
most precious marine ecosystems, I came across a coral species known as
dome-shaped coral.These corals are the heartbeat of the ecosystem: they
maintain ecological balance, provide shelter for marine species, and regulate
cycles of life. However, pollution caused by oil transportation, combined with
industrial fishing, poses a serious threat to this fragile environment. The
death of these corals brings far-reaching consequences for the entire chain
of life.
How to cite: Hodaei, S.: Art as a Catalyst: Biodiversity and Public Understanding , World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-797, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-797, 2026.
