Navigating human‐nature interactions by exploring plural values across ecosystem states

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Abstract Supporting biodiversity conservation in an effective and sustainable way requires addressing biodiversity loss while satisfying the dependency of people on nature. Critical to this goal is to understand how the benefits and services delivered by ecosystems influence human values, and how these values can be leveraged to promote equitable economic, social and environmental outcomes. However, these values are challenging to capture in complex social‐ecological systems, particularly when the values are not consistent among different groups of stakeholders. We examined the values associated with Box Gum Grassy Woodland agro‐ecological systems in Australia, focusing on two key stakeholder groups that influence management decisions: farmers and ecological specialists. Using a state‐and‐transition model as a boundary object, we identified various dimensions of values—instrumental, intrinsic and relational—across four distinct states of the Box Gum Grassy Woodland: Grassy Woodland, Native Pastures, Crops and Sown/Fertilised Pastures and Revegetated Areas. We found that both groups of stakeholders identified multiple dimensions of values, although the intensity of values (i.e., the total number of values) associated with different states varied significantly—the values of ecological specialist respondents were concentrated in intact Grassy Woodlands, whereas the values of farmer respondents were concentrated in Native Pastures. These results demonstrate that ecological systems influence the values that are generated in human communities, and these values are likely to result in actions that may promote or diminish the presence of certain values. Characterising values and analysing their distribution between ecosystem states for different groups of stakeholders can offer valuable insights into the dynamics of human‐nature interactions and the values that influence human behaviour which can directly transform nature. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.