CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Key Messages:Diverse worldviews matter to valuation. The way nature, biodiversity, and ecosystem services are perceived and valued depends on how the world is viewed and analyzed across different cultures, societies and disciplines. In a valuation process, it is critical to assess explicitly and transparently which worldviews are adopted or taken into account.The word ?value? has many different meanings. It can refer to a principle or a social norm, a preference someone has for something/a particular state of the world, the importance of something for itself or for others, or a measure.Values relevant to IPBES have varied foci. A pragmatic division that is in concordance with the IPBES conceptual framework distinguishes between: i) values of Nature (non-anthropocentric orientation), ii) values of Nature‟s benefits to people (anthropocentric orientation including biophysical and instrumental values), ii) values of a Good quality of life (anthropocentric orientation including social and relational values).Values are context dependent, dynamic, and vary across scales. Values depend on and change with people?s cognitive and personal circumstances, their broader socio-cultural and political contexts, and their ecological and environmental contexts. Values can also vary across spatial, temporal and social-organizational scales.Potential and future values need to be considered today. Bequest, option and insurance values, and those attributed to sustainability and resilience, need to be considered and incorporated into today?s decision making.Values are plural and often incommensurable. Values are plural because they can be considered from diverse perspectives, and need to be assessed in pluralistic ways. These plural values can be incommensurable and thus they cannot easily be reduced into a single metric or be compared and weighed against each other.Value articulation is often influenced by how values are elicited. Elicitation of diverse and plural values needs to be equitable, by being inclusive of all actors that are affected either via differential costs, benefits or responsibilities. It is important to be mindful of power relations among these actors, and pay particular attention to site-specific as well as indigenous and local knowledge (ILK).Including diverse values into valuation is challenging but desirable. Contradictions and conflicts between different systems of value and different groups of stakeholders are particularly relevant for decision making. Thus, assessing and taking into account a plurality of values requires a plurality of valuation methods, all of which are value-laden. This means that methodological choices are normative. They are subject to the preferences and priorities of the individuals with the authority or influence to make those choices and should be critically evaluated. Appropriate mainstreaming of valuation outcomes into policy design is thus essential. Transparent decision and policy making processes informed by pluralistic value assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services have better foundations for being more equitable and participatory.