Rethinking Human-Natures

‘Flip it and reverse it’*: Transformative change through (re)visibilization of interdependencies among humans and the rest of nature. A Project Supported by SNSF Project Grant. Our driving question: How can transdisciplinary transformative change initiatives (TTCIs) that focus on socioecological relations be adapted to better address the interlinked global crises of biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and intensifying social inequality and political turmoil (aka the ‘polycrisis’)? This project engages critical social sciences and centers Indigenous perspectives on relationships and responsibilities to collaboratively highlight interdependencies among humans and the rest of nature. Transdisciplinary transformative change initiatives (TTCIs) often struggle to create the needed paradigm shifts to tackle the polycrisis. Practitioners are criticized for offering apolitical solutions that ignore the root causes of the crises, while academic researchers are blamed for not making theoretical insights practical or actionable. Some TTCIs succeed in redefining human-nature relations, but they usually focus on reconnecting with an external nature rather than recognizing the inherent interdependencies emphasized by holistic worldviews. Additionally, while some TTCIs include Indigenous perspectives, they often do so without understanding their deeper significance, within restrictive Western funding frameworks, or too late in the process, leading to superficial inclusion or problematic knowledge extraction. This project coordinates a team of Indigenous stewardship specialists/Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) holders, academic researchers, and Swiss nature conservation practitioners/ Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) holders in the coproduction of a novel adaptive transformative change approach that combines sustainability science, political ecology theory, and Indigenous and practitioner knowledge on equal grounds.