TY - JOUR

T1 - Towards transformative change for biodiversity

T2 - What can we learn from case studies in Germany?

AU - Schreiner, Vera

AU - Mehring, Marion

AU - Kleemann, Janina

AU - Hauck, Jennifer

AU - Knauß, Stefan

AU - Poßer, Christian

AU - Schleyer, Christian

AU - Potthast, Thomas

AU - Grunewald, Karsten

AU - Fürst, Christine

AU - Müller, Jennifer

AU - Albert, Christian

AU - Egerer, Monika

AU - Haase, Dagmar

AU - Jähnig, Sonja C.

AU - Kaiser, Josef

AU - Sanders, Tanja GM

AU - Sommer, Pia

AU - Wellmann, Thilo

AU - Keil, Peter

AU - Wittmer, Heidi

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s)

PY - 2025/6

Y1 - 2025/6

N2 - Current human activities have led to fundamental changes in ecosystems, including the loss of biodiversity, which increasingly leads to irreversible negative impacts on society. Although called for in many policy documents, the debate on how to initiate, promote and specifically support socio-ecological transformations for the conservation and restoration of biodiversity is still in its early stages. So far, efforts to protect biodiversity were only partially successful. Therefore, there is a need for approaches to promote societal change for the benefit of biodiversity. We analysed 22 case studies of biodiversity-enhancing societal processes and projects in Germany to understand barriers and success factors and to identify features that support transformative change towards sustainability and biodiversity mainstreaming. Following Wittmer et al. (2021), the following topics were analysed: a) orientation towards a shared and compelling vision that enables biodiversity conservation or enhancement (transformative vision), b) the role of (different types of) knowledge about how to change the system (transformative knowledge), c) navigating the dynamics inherent in changing development pathways (transformational dynamics), d) enabling emancipated action and opening spaces for creative participation of different social groups (emancipation and agency), and e) targeted interventions that aim to enable governance for transformation. This article discusses lessons learned from examples in Germany to support future transformative processes for biodiversity conservation, restoration and biodiversity mainstreaming. It identifies 16 features, enabling transformative change for biodiversity, many of which may be applicable in other countries with similar governance contexts. These characteristics suggest that a structured and well-informed approach, based on a broad range of communication, engagement, negotiation, and stakeholder involvement efforts throughout the process, is well-suited for developing and implementing proposals. While in some small cases indirect drivers were addressed, achieving this on a broader scale is the largest remaining challenge.

AB - Current human activities have led to fundamental changes in ecosystems, including the loss of biodiversity, which increasingly leads to irreversible negative impacts on society. Although called for in many policy documents, the debate on how to initiate, promote and specifically support socio-ecological transformations for the conservation and restoration of biodiversity is still in its early stages. So far, efforts to protect biodiversity were only partially successful. Therefore, there is a need for approaches to promote societal change for the benefit of biodiversity. We analysed 22 case studies of biodiversity-enhancing societal processes and projects in Germany to understand barriers and success factors and to identify features that support transformative change towards sustainability and biodiversity mainstreaming. Following Wittmer et al. (2021), the following topics were analysed: a) orientation towards a shared and compelling vision that enables biodiversity conservation or enhancement (transformative vision), b) the role of (different types of) knowledge about how to change the system (transformative knowledge), c) navigating the dynamics inherent in changing development pathways (transformational dynamics), d) enabling emancipated action and opening spaces for creative participation of different social groups (emancipation and agency), and e) targeted interventions that aim to enable governance for transformation. This article discusses lessons learned from examples in Germany to support future transformative processes for biodiversity conservation, restoration and biodiversity mainstreaming. It identifies 16 features, enabling transformative change for biodiversity, many of which may be applicable in other countries with similar governance contexts. These characteristics suggest that a structured and well-informed approach, based on a broad range of communication, engagement, negotiation, and stakeholder involvement efforts throughout the process, is well-suited for developing and implementing proposals. While in some small cases indirect drivers were addressed, achieving this on a broader scale is the largest remaining challenge.

KW - Biodiversity

KW - Enabling features

KW - Germany

KW - Social-ecological transformation

KW - Transformative change

KW - Transformative governance

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105005171729&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.125663

DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.125663

M3 - Article

C2 - 40382929

AN - SCOPUS:105005171729

VL - 386

JO - Journal of Environmental Management

JF - Journal of Environmental Management

SN - 0301-4797

M1 - 125663

ER -