Nature as Culture: Conceptualizing What It Implies and Potential Ways to Capture the Paradigm in Scenario Building Exercises

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Abstract
The recent Values Assessment conducted by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) highlights the impact of different worldviews on people's relationship with nature. This paper summarizes the findings from a literature review that examined nature-culture interconnections and how they play out in outcomes related to conservation and human well-being. It seeks to highlight the various ways in which Nature as Culture is conceptualized and further, generalized. It also aims to identify a short set of promising indicators that could be used for scenario modelling for nature futures work and identify potential areas of research to explore further in this field to ensure that the concept is more robustly embedded in plans to operationalize policy goals on sustainability, including biodiversity conservation. The paper emphasizes the need for further research in this area, calling for methods that incorporate a diverse range of resources across ecosystems, species types and national borders. It highlights ground-truthing and primary data collection as essential components in understanding intrinsic, instrumental and relational values for fostering sustainable practices.

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