With ecological degradation continuing to outpace the political response, the biodiversity community must grapple with moving from observing and understanding decline, to strengthening solutions and actively influencing policy and action. The World Biodiversity Forum (WBF) community is well placed to shape responses to the biodiversity crisis across scales.
At a global scale agreements such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework set international ambitions for nature. However, global ambitions are rarely fully reflected in national policies and subnational delivery. To bridge these gaps, the biodiversity community must transform from knowledge experts into knowledge brokers, engaging at all scales to drive evidence-based change. This means feeding robust data, knowledge and insight into MEA deliberations and international thematic assessments, whilst also embedding scientific insights into national science-policy processes and plans, and engaging actively in communications and outreach, including with traditional and social media.
These top-down policy opportunities shape the systems and conditions that enable action. Yet, individuals, local communities, and businesses are generally not following international policy debates or waiting for governments to legislate before making decisions that affect biodiversity. Instead, successful interventions and sustainable individual choices spread and scale organically through community and social networks. Ultimately, global outcomes for nature will depend to a large degree on these decentralized actions around the world.
More than a century after the phrase "think globally, act locally" was coined, we need to adapt it to our times. As a biodiversity community, we must now think and act at all scales – supporting effective global ambition and national policy while cultivating the grassroots networks that drive real change.
How to cite: Ash, N.: From policy trophic cascades to rhizomatic reforms: How the biodiversity community can drive policy and action across scales., World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-1051, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-1051, 2026.
