Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 125663 |
| Journal | Journal of Environmental Management |
| Volume | 386 |
| Early online date | 17 May 2025 |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2025 |
Abstract
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.
Keywords
- Biodiversity, Enabling features, Germany, Social-ecological transformation, Transformative change, Transformative governance
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Science(all)
- Environmental Engineering
- Environmental Science(all)
- Waste Management and Disposal
- Environmental Science(all)
- Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
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In: Journal of Environmental Management, Vol. 386, 125663, 06.2025.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
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 -