Shifting Paradigms: Reimagining Human-Nature Relationships for Sustainable Biodiversity Conservation
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability, Biodiversity and Conservation".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 1311
Special Issue Editors
Interests: business ethics; (dis)trust in organizations and communities; stakeholder management for social transformation; ethical leadership and sustainable human resource management; sustainable governance for ethical decision-making
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: estuaries; estuarine ecology; marine ecology; human impacts; policy
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue delves into the need for transformative change in biodiversity conservation, placing a spotlight on the behavioural shifts needed to address the challenges to nature posed by human activity. Emphasizing the urgency of reshaping human behaviour and attitudes towards nature, it draws from influential works, many of which have contributed to the IPBES Global Transformative Change Assessment (expected to be reported in 2024), which stresses the critical need for radical transformations. This Special Issue underscores the exploration of human motivations, attitudes, and values driving conservation behaviours. Proposals representing each of the three values of Nature (relational, instrumental, and intrinsic values) within the Nature Futures Framework [1] will be examined in the context of their implications for altering human–nature relationships and fostering sustainable practices. Furthermore, emerging conservation paradigms will be explored, emphasizing the integration of social sciences to understand the complexities of human–nature interactions. This Special Issue advocates for interdisciplinary collaboration to fill gaps in how we understand the behavioural drivers of conservation action and how we can support those that are effective. This Special Issue will appeal to stakeholders who are keen to unravel the intricacies of human behaviour and advance transformative strategies for biodiversity conservation in the Anthropocene era.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
[1] Pereira, L., Davies, K., Belder, E. d., Ferrier, S., Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen, S., Kim, H., … & Lundquist, C. J. (2020). Developing multiscale and integrative nature–people scenarios using the nature futures framework. People and Nature, 2(4), 1172-1195. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10146
Prof. Dr. Ann-Marie Nienaber
Prof. Dr. Michael Elliott
Dr. Julie A. Ewald
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- transformative change
- biodiversity conservation
- governance structures
- human behaviour
- environmental sustainability
- paradigm shift
- interdisciplinary collaboration
- Anthropocene era
- nature futures framework
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