Speaking on value – a multi stakeholder discussion on the plurality of ecosystem service values in A
On the 6th and 7th of September 2016, the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services group of the CSIR in collaboration with the IPBES Technical Support Unit for Values organised a workshop in El Jadida, Morocco. to discuss issues relating to the plurality of ecosystem service value. Here 33 people form 18 different countries met to discuss this issue.
The regional dialogue was embedded in the 3rd African Congress for Conservation Biology, which took place from the 4-8 September 2016 in Morocco around the theme ‘Conservation Biology in Africa: Challenges of Globalization’. This congress brought together a variety of stakeholder profiles involved in the regional IPBES assessments, and other researchers from across the continent.
The main focus of this workshop was to provide guidance in order to catalyse the use of a newly developed guide relating to the varied conceptualisations of values in assessments, and to generally enhance thinking around values assessment in Africa. More specifically, the workshop had five primary objectives: (i)To introduce the guide to researchers working on ecosystem service issues in Africa especially those involved in the Africa Assessment of the IPBES, (ii) To reflect on the generic application of the guide at a local level, (iii)To build collective efforts for the integration of some of the main issues discussed on the guide on values into the regional assessment, (iv) To make recommendations where practical application of the guide may be challenging, and lastly (v) To plant the seeds for a future integration of multiple conceptualizations of values both within the global IPBES assessment and more broadly. For more information on the IPBES Values guide please click here
The discussions were rich, and spanned issues on the different conceptualizations of values, the different ways of elucidating and eliciting those values, the languages used to articulate values, and the need to develop different methodologies and approaches to bring out values. Beyond that, the discussions also touched on the bigger values encompassing these multiple values. Beyond that, the discussions also touched on the bigger values issues relating to drivers and world views behind assessments, global inequality and knowledge sharing – how are benefits from this understanding shared. Overall the workshop was characterised by lively and active discussion and breakout sessions which build collective shared understanding on this issue.
The African workshop is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) through SwedBio at Stockholm Resilience Centre and in-kind support will be provided by the TSU on Values funded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH trough the ValuEs project and hosted by the Institute for Ecosystems and Sustainability Research (IIES-UNAM) and the Regional African TSU hosted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
