Project
Values and valuation for transformations towards biodiversity-positive food systems
We are increasingly realising that catalysing transformations towards biodiversity-positive food systems requires consideration of the full diversity in which actors such as farmers value nature. Specifically, that we need to consider a broader palette of values than just economic ones. At the same time, significant steps remain to be taken in the financial dimension as well. Ongoing protests by farmers across Europe, partly revolving around lack of viable business models for sustainability, are telling in this respect. Therefore, this project centres on the challenge of developing governance that genuinely incorporates the broad diversity of values at play and also, simultaneously, provides adequate solutions for the financial constraints that food system actors face.
Increasingly it is acknowledged that catalysing transformations towards biodiversity-positive food systems (B+FS) requires consideration of a broader palette of values than economic ones only. Solutions based on single value types risk aligning poorly with the diverse ways in which stakeholder relate to nature and, consequently, lacking effectivity in halting biodiversity loss.
Yet, this does not exclude the importance of considering the economic dimensions of such transformations. On the contrary, it is particularly also in this area that significant steps need to be taken. For instance, the lack of fitting business models for farmers and other food system actors is one of the major barriers towards B+FS.
An important challenge, therefore, lies in developing governance that genuinely incorporates the broad diversity of values at play and also, simultaneously, provides adequate solutions for the financial constraints that food system actors face. This requires integration between the rapidly growing yet still largely conceptual amount of work being done in the more qualitative social sciences on plural valuation of nature, and the more established field of environmental economics, where there is already more experience with actionable governance arrangements (e.g. agri-environment payments, sustainability premia, etc.). However, this integration is not automatically straightforward, for instance due to the different disciplinary languages being spoken.
In this project, we aim to explore what WUR experts working either on plural valuation or environmental economics fields view as prospects, opportunities, and challenges for this integration, and to share these insights with the wider community of WUR researchers working on biodiversity governance in food system contexts, so they can benefit from them into their own work.