Transformative changes in societies’ relationships with nature are urgently needed to halt and reverse biodiversity decline, yet such change remains elusive. Biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change are interlinked challenges that are cross-scale, dynamic, and intertwined with societies that themselves are characterised by multiple understandings, values, interests, and needs. Existing governance approaches are failing to address the complexity of these interlinked problems and to engage with the deeply rooted social and social-ecological relations that produce and reproduce them. The aim of the MultiDiv project is to propose a novel way of conceptualising these interlinked problems that is grounded in process-relational philosophy, and a relational and ‘naturecultural’ understanding of society that includes non-human actors. Building on the concept of multispecies assemblages it will develop modes of understanding entanglements between different processes across scales (such as biophysical, social, social-ecological, environmental policy making, value changes, etc.) and temporalities. The gained understanding will provide a new basis for transforming biodiversity governance to better fit these interlinked problems and their multiple interdependencies within societies and nature.
MultiDiv addresses these challenges by exploring how biodiversity governance can better account for the roles and interactions of multiple species, including humans, in shaping ecosystems. By focusing on real-world cases where species have ambiguous or shifting roles, the project seeks to develop new conceptual and practical tools for more adaptive and inclusive governance.
