Use your power for good: plural valuation of nature – the Oaxaca statement

Sander Jacobs,Nadia Sitas,Unai Pascual,Meine Van Noordwijk,Barbara Muraca,Juliana Merçon,Wubalem Tadesse,Karina Benessaiah,Louise Guibrunet,Suneetha M Subramanian,Patricia Balvanera,Juliana Chaves-Chaparro,Hannah Moersberger,Augustín Berghöfer ,Sandra Dı́az ,Berta Martín‐López ,Anne‐Hélène Prieur‐Richard ,Alexander Rincón-Ruíz ,Erik Gómez-Baggethun ,Jenny C Ordóñez ,Albert V Norström ,Vanessa A Masterson ,Patrick O ́Farrell ,David Gonzales-Jimenez ,Noelia Zafra‐Calvo ,Sharachchandra Lélé

doi:10.1017/sus.2020.2

Abstract

Non-technical abstract Decisions on the use of nature reflect the values and rights of individuals, communities and society at large. The values of nature are expressed through cultural norms, rules and legislation, and they can be elicited using a wide range of tools, including those of economics. None of the approaches to elicit peoples’ values are neutral. Unequal power relations influence valuation and decision-making and are at the core of most environmental conflicts. As actors in sustainability thinking, environmental scientists and practitioners are becoming more aware of their own posture, normative stance, responsibility and relative power in society. Based on a transdisciplinary workshop, our perspective paper provides a normative basis for this new community of scientists and practitioners engaged in the plural valuation of nature.

Highlights

This paper summarizes the outcomes of a workshop on multiple values of nature held in November 2017 in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico.i The workshop convened 28 participants from diverse regional, disciplinary and professional backgrounds, active in transformative research and practice
Subglobal and global experiences on the plural valuation of nature, we identified a common vision, a mission to pursue with the growing plural valuation community and part of a strategy going forward
We argue that a global paradigm shift towards a more plural valuation is urgently needed, and in support of the emerging plural valuation initiatives we propose a shared vision, mission and strategy for the growing group of researchers and practitioners whoposition themselves at the frontline of post-normal and action-orientated research, as well as decision-making around nature

Summary

Introduction

This paper summarizes the outcomes of a workshop on multiple values of nature held in November 2017 in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico.i The workshop convened 28 participants from diverse regional, disciplinary and professional backgrounds, active in transformative research and practice. Subglobal and global experiences on the plural valuation of nature, we identified a common vision, a mission to pursue with the growing plural valuation community and part of a strategy going forward. Nature is valued in very different ways by individuals and groups with very unequal levels of power, and a more plural approach to valuing nature is increasingly seen as critical to addressing deep inequities, injustices and conflicts. We argue that a global paradigm shift towards a more plural valuation is urgently needed, and in support of the emerging plural valuation initiatives we propose a shared vision, mission and strategy for the growing group of researchers and practitioners who (re)position themselves at the frontline of post-normal and action-orientated research, as well as decision-making around nature

Valuing nature for sustainability?

What is plural valuation of nature?

The vision: strong sustainability

The mission: to transform

The strategy: to octupy