Blog Post by Eda Elif Tibet & Andressa V. Mansur
Exploring Transdisciplinary and Actionable Knowledge Co-Production to Foster Bottom-up Land System Transformation. Panel Picture with Bridging Values Consortium scientists and speakers. Nov 2024.
The pervasive impacts of human activities on nature underscore the pressing need for transformative changes based on deep redefinitions of human-nature relationships. As recently stated by IPBES in its Values Assessment, recognizing and respecting peoples’ diverse values and knowledge systems are pivotal leverage points in driving sustainable and just transformations. Transdisciplinary efforts that prioritize co-producing actionable knowledge and embracing relationality perspectives become imperative in addressing the multifaceted challenges related to land system sustainability.
New tools and approaches in knowledge co-production to catalyze transformative change are emerging, ranging from participatory mapping and scenario-building exercises to art-based activities. This session seeked to delve into the evolving landscape of methodological innovations and best practices within the field of transdisciplinary co-production. The focus has been on gaining insights from practical applications of methodologies across a diversity of social-ecological contexts, exploring their potential role as catalysts for transformations as well as their challenges. Emphasis was also placed on presenting and discussing how to navigate and understand the complex power dynamics inherent in transdisciplinary engagements.
Our panel presented learning experiences from a set of case studies both in the Global South (Lao PDR and Brazil) and the Global North (Germany and the Basque Country) associated with the ongoing research project BridgingVALUES. The session also hosted researchers engaged in similar research projects who shared practical case studies, showcasing insights, lessons learned, and challenges faced while fostering inclusive, collaborative transformations across diverse contexts, ranging from local to regional scales. Our consortium members have also presented in other panels and plenary sessions, engaging with the wider academic community on diverse issues.
The session organisers were; Andressa V. Mansur, and Unai Pascual from the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), Julie G. Zaehringer, and Eda Elif Tibet from the Wyss Academy for Nature at the University of Bern and Lasse Loft from Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research.
Our consortium team member, Andressa V.Mansur, won the Best Presentation Award at GLP in the category of Enabling Transformative Change. She received the prize for her talk, "Integrating Plural Value Perspectives for Transformative Landscape Governance: A Case Study from Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country)."
"I am honored to receive the Best Presentation Award for my research on the sustainability challenges in the rural territory of Vitoria-Gasteiz. I’m grateful for the opportunity to shed light on the complexities of transdisciplinary research while also illustrating the inspiring process of co-developing solutions with local actors, whose passion for the region's natural landscape brings joy to my daily work."
Andressa V.Mansur
Prior to the congress, our consortium celebrated its second annual meeting in Teocalli Village, Oaxaca, during the Día de los Muertos celebrations. As part of this four-day pre-congress meeting we focused on aligning our work packages, practicing the Three Horizons methodology including causal loop diagrams, a systems analysis tool facilitated by our team member Ana Paula, and developing a Theory of Change (ToC) to identify action points for the project’s anticipated impact, facilitated by Laura Vallejo (expert of ToC) and our team member Eda Elif Tibet. During this time, we engaged in deep reflection on our transdisciplinary collaborations and committed to fostering safe and collaborative engagements beyond disciplinary silos.
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