Patricia Balvanera

• PhD in Ecology
• Professor at National Autonomous University of Mexico

The Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) was established in 2011, and is now one of the major international social-ecological systems (SES) research networks. During this time, SES research has undergone a phase of rapid growth and has grown into an influential branch of sustainability science. In this Perspective, we argue that SES res...

The ability to monitor changes in biodiversity, and their societal impact, is critical to conserving species and managing ecosystems. While emerging technologies increase the breadth and reach of data acquisition, monitoring efforts are still spatially and temporally fragmented, and taxonomically biased. Appropriate long-term information remains th...

Context Understanding the complex interdependencies between nature and people is a major challenge for the sustainable management of social-ecological systems. Spatially explicit identification of these interdependencies is particularly relevant for managing biodiversity hotspots, such as Tropical Dry Forests (TDF). Objectives We provided a method...

As nations design a framework and a process for implementing the new goals and targets set by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the question on how to report on the successes and failures of policy implementation is becoming more salient. In this paper, we demonstrate the potential role of Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs), Essent...

The W.E.I.R.D. acronym refers to populations that are Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. The concept emerged with scholars’ realizations that much psychological research makes universal claims based on work with WEIRD participants, despite the fact that WEIRD cultures are globally unusual. We note a related trend in sustainabi...

Recognizing and understanding the subjective wellbeing (SWB) of individuals is essential for designing effective policies that promote human development and the sustainable management of social-ecological systems (SES). This is particularly important for smallholders, critical stewards of biodiversity who face acute livelihood challenges. This arti...

Recognizing and incorporating the diverse values of nature into decision-making is critical for transformative change toward sustainability. This is particularly true for relational values involving reciprocity, care, and responsibility, especially in unsustainable production systems replacing rapidly diverse tropical forests. Our study reveals the...

Mapas futuros comunitarios

This article examines the challenges and opportunities to integrate diverse sources of evidence in assessments produced by international platforms working at the science–policy interface. Diversity (or pluralism) of sources of literature, both in terms of their geographic origin and disciplinary focus, is essential for assessments to inform decisio...

Aim Successional changes in functional diversity provide insights into community assembly by indicating how species are filtered into local communities based on their traits. Here, we assess successional changes in taxonomic and functional richness, evenness and redundancy along gradients of climate, soil pH and forest cover. Location Neotropics....

Values play a significant role in decision-making, especially regarding nature. Decisions impact people and nature in complex ways and understanding which values are prioritised, and which are left out is an important task for improving the equity and effectiveness of decision-making. Based on work done for the IPBES Values Assessment, this paper d...

Modern environmental thought has always involved normative claims about the values needed for sustainability. This has often played out in debates between proponents of anthropocentric and ecocentric ways of valuing nature. More recently, there has been a flourishing of interest in relational and pluricentric ways of valuing nature, coinciding with...

Globally, land and seascapes across the bioculturally diverse tropics are in transition. Impacted by the demands of distant consumers, the processes of global environmental change and numerous interventions seeking climate, conservation and development goals, these transitions have the potential to impact the relationships and plurality of values h...

As countries consider new area-based conservation targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity, protected areas (PAs) and their impacts on people and nature are coming under increasing scrutiny. We review the evidence base on PA impacts, combining the findings from existing rigorous impact evaluations with local case studies developed for t...

Aiming at just and sustainable futures for biodiversity conservation requires clarity concerning how justice relates to the diverse values of nature. By drawing upon and expanding on the recent Values Assessment of Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, this article discusses the implications of the diverse values of nat...

The Values Assessment (VA) of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services shows that while a wide range of valuation methods exist to include nature's values in diverse decision-making contexts, uptake of these methods remains limited. Building on the VA, this paper reviews five critical steps in the evaluat...

El análisis de las interacciones entre contribuciones de la naturaleza y las preferencias que diferentes actores tienen hacia ellas permite identifica disyuntivas y conflictos, así como oportunidades para la conciliar la conservación de la biodiversidad y su aprovechamiento. Las herramientas aquí presentadas permiten la identificación participativa...

The rate and extent of global biodiversity change is surpassing our ability to measure, monitor and forecast trends. We propose an interconnected worldwide system of observation networks — a global biodiversity observing system (GBiOS) — to coordinate monitoring worldwide and inform action to reach international biodiversity targets.

Twenty-five years since foundational publications on valuing ecosystem services for human well-being1,2, addressing the global biodiversity crisis³ still implies confronting barriers to incorporating nature’s diverse values into decision-making. These barriers include powerful interests supported by current norms and legal rules such as property ri...

Abandonment of agricultural lands promotes the global expansion of secondary forests, which are critical for preserving biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services. Such roles largely depend, however, on two essential successional attributes, trajectory and recovery rate, which are expected to depend on landscape-scale forest cover in non-lin...

Los paisajes tropicales están cambiando rápidamente y presentan oportunidades para conciliar la provisión de servicios ecosistémicos, la conservación de la biodiversidad y el mantenimiento de los medios de vida de las comunidades. La identificación de áreas relevantes para la conservación de la biodiversidad y la provisión de servicios ecosistémico...

Tropical agricultural frontiers are rapidly changing and present unique opportunities to reconcile ecosystem services (ES) provision, biodiversity conservation, and livelihood maintenance of rural communities. To understand the dynamics of these frontiers, we analyzed preferences, reasons associated with importance, and spatial perceptions of ES an...

Despite substantial progress in understanding global biodiversity loss, major taxonomic and geographic knowledge gaps remain. Decision makers often rely on expert judgement to fill knowledge gaps, but are rarely able to engage with sufficiently large and diverse groups of specialists. To improve understanding of the perspectives of thousands of bio...

This is the final text version of Chapter 1. A laid-out version of the full assessment report will be made available in the coming months.

Forests that regrow naturally on abandoned fields are important for restoring biodiversity and ecosystem services, but can they also preserve the distinct regional tree floras? Using the floristic composition of 1215 early successional forests (≤20 years) in 75 human-modified landscapes across the Neotropic realm, we identified 14 distinct floristi...

Data capturing multiple axes of tree size and shape, such as a tree's stem diameter, height and crown size, underpin a wide range of ecological research - from developing and testing theory on forest structure and dynamics, to estimating forest carbon stocks and their uncertainties, and integrating remote sensing imagery into forest monitoring prog...

Global frameworks to guide consistent monitoring of changes in human–nature interactions across space and time are needed to better understand how healthy ecosystems support societies and to inform policy design. Monitoring Essential Ecosystem Service Variables (EESVs) can provide a comprehensive picture of how links between nature and people are c...

Sustainability requires a combination of meaningful co-production of locally relevant solutions, synthesis of insights gained across regions, and increased cooperation between science, policy and practice. The Programme for Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) has been coordinating Place-Based Social-Ecological Sustainability Research (PBSESR) acros...

Resilient secondary tropical forests? Although deforestation is rampant across the tropics, forest has a strong capacity to regrow on abandoned lands. These “secondary” forests may increasingly play important roles in biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, and landscape restoration. Poorter et al . analyzed the patterns of recovery i...

Global transformation involved key trade-offs, and inequalities, as growing interactions drove economic growth but also degradation. Accelerations in consumption and interconnection have had trade-offs.

La naturaleza brinda un abanico de contribuciones para las personas, quienes las perciben y las valoran de maneras muy diversas. Esta pluralidad de valores es relevante para el caso de los pequeños productores rurales, que son los responsables directos del manejo de la naturaleza. El uso de las fotografías para la valoración plural de las contribuc...

In this article, we explore why conservation schemes that have positive outcomes through the participation of local communities cannot necessarily be deemed as just. We observe that recognition (understood as inclusion and respect) of local communities’ value‐systems, a key factor towards environmental justice, is not often achieved in conservation...

Current food production and consumption trends are inconsistent with the Convention on Biological Diversity's 2050 vision of living in harmony with nature. Here, we examine how, and under what conditions, the post-2020 biodiversity framework can support transformative change in food systems. Our analysis of actions proposed in four science-policy f...

Climate change scenarios show that water availability could be decreasing in the near future, adding to the increasing problem of the growing water demands in socioeconomic sectors. The aim of this work was to generate a geographically explicit water balance concerning availability vs. demand in an overpopulated region of Mexico. Water balance and...

Secondary forests will likely dominate future tropical landscapes, and the ecosystem services they provide to humanity will be particularly relevant. However, few empirical studies provide quantitative evidence of how the supply of ecosystem services change along secondary forest succession. The need for such information is particularly pressing fo...

Abiotic and biotic filters may play differential roles in the plant community organization along forest succession in abandoned fields. However, little is known about how life stage-specific filters influence species replacement during succession. We approach this issue by analyzing changes in community attributes (abundance, species density, speci...

Secondary tropical forests offer critical ecosystem services such as regulation of climate, soil and water resources, which are frequently traded off against the provision of forest products for human use or repeated clearing for agriculture. While some evidence also suggests potential synergies between regulating and material contributions of rege...

Secondary succession involves dynamic feedback among vegetation, environmental conditions and biota. Nevertheless, the recovery of tropical forests after anthropic management is often evaluated based solely on vegetation cover, which is easier to measure and requires less equipment and expertise than the assessment of soil and microclimate, but doe...

Data used in the content analysis for the paper Impact of land transformation, management and governance on subjective wellbeing across social-ecological systems

Regenerating forests after agricultural land abandonment are increasingly common in human-modified tropical landscapes. These secondary forests preserve biodiversity and provide multiple ecosystem services, but such important roles depend on their recovery rates, which can be difficult to predict. Recovery is expected to occur faster when landscape...

Natural regeneration of secondary forests can be an important source of recovery of ecosystem services (ES) critical for humanity, especially for climate change mitigation and adaptation goals. However, natural regeneration entails synergies and trade-offs across ESs and across stakeholders. To evaluate these trade-offs, we assessed the economic va...

Biomass estimates in tropical forests are mainly available for old-growth forests, but the expansion of tropical secondary forests urges the development of tools for more accurate estimations of biomass and carbon pools. In this study, we developed local allometric models to estimate aboveground biomass in secondary tropical dry forests of the Cham...

Understanding traditional livestock management is essential in the design of more sustainable systems, given the forest loss associated to the growing demand for meat. In Latin America, where extensive livestock production is increasing, along with tropical dry forest (TDF) transformation, the role of small holders is critical for designing more su...

Contributions of place-based social-ecological research to address global sustainability challenges - Volume 3 - Berta Martín-López, Patricia Balvanera, Robert Manson, Tuyeni Heita Mwampamba, Albert Norström

Plural valuation is about eliciting the diverse values of nature articulated by different stakeholders in order to inform decision making and thus achieve more equitable and sustainable outcomes. We explore what approaches align with plural valuation on the ground, as well as how different social-ecological contexts play a role in translating plura...

Decisions on the use of nature reflect the values and rights of individuals, communities and society at large. The values of nature are expressed through cultural norms, rules and legislation, and they can be elicited using a wide range of tools, including those of economics. None of the approaches to elicit peoples’ values are neutral. Unequal pow...

Research practice, funding agencies and global science organizations suggest that research aimed at addressing sustainability challenges is most effective when ‘co-produced’ by academics and non-academics. Co-production promises to address the complex nature of contemporary sustainability challenges better than more traditional scientific approache...

Relational values are values of desirable relationships between people and nature and among people (through nature). We report on the approach to capture relational values of nature’s contributions to people in the regional assessment for Europe and Central Asia of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services...

Introduction The complex links and feedbacks between ecosystems and people are now sharply in focus. Our growing understandings of the complex relations between ecosystems and people, the social and ecological drivers of changes in nature, and the different dimensions of a good quality of life, from local to global scales, have made these interdepe...

The Intergovernmental Science–Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is an independent scientific body focused on assessing the state of the world’s ecosystem services and biodiversity. IPBES members agreed in 2017 that a review of the Platform’s first work programme should be undertaken by an independent panel examining all...

The time is now For decades, scientists have been raising calls for societal changes that will reduce our impacts on nature. Though much conservation has occurred, our natural environment continues to decline under the weight of our consumption. Humanity depends directly on the output of nature; thus, this decline will affect us, just as it does th...

Interdisciplinary science and international policy collaborate to stem inequities

Although health, development, and environment challenges are interconnected, evidence remains fractured across sectors due to methodological and conceptual differences in research and practice. Aligned methods are needed to support Sustainable Development Goal advances and similar agendas. The Bridge Collaborative, an emergent research-practice col...

Although health, development, and environment challenges are interconnected, evidence remains fractured across sectors due to methodological and conceptual differences in research and practice. Aligned methods are needed to support Sustainable Development Goal advances and similar agendas. The Bridge Collaborative, an emergent research-practice col...

Although health, development, and environment challenges are interconnected, evidence remains fractured across sectors due to methodological and conceptual differences in research and practice. Aligned methods are needed to support Sustainable Development Goal advances and similar agendas. The Bridge Collaborative, an emergent research-practice col...

Tropical forests are converted at an alarming rate for agricultural use and pastureland, but also regrow naturally through secondary succession. For successful forest restoration, it is essential to understand the mechanisms of secondary succession. These mechanisms may vary across forest types, but analyses across broad spatial scales are lacking....

In this chapter of the IBES Global Assesment on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services we explored how global transformation involved key tradeoffs, and inequalities, as growing interactions drove economic growth but also degradation. Accelerations in consumption & interconnection have had tradeoffs.

In this Draft Chapter 2.1 of the IBES Global Assesment on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services we explored how global transformation involved key tradeoffs, and inequalities, as growing interactions drove economic growth but also degradation. Accelerations in consumption & interconnection have had tradeoffs.

Non-technical summary Nature and culture are intricately linked and the rapid loss of both biological and cultural diversity around the globe has led to increasing concerns about its effects on sustainability. Important efforts to understand biocultural relations and bolster sustainable practices have been made by scientists, local communities, civ...

Non-technical summary Nature and culture are intricately linked and the rapid loss of both biological and cultural diversity around the globe has led to increasing concerns about its effects on sustainability. Important efforts to understand biocultural relations and bolster sustainable practices have been made by scientists, local communities, civ...

Old-growth tropical forests harbor an immense diversity of tree species but are rapidly being cleared, while secondary forests that regrow on abandoned agricultural lands increase in extent. We assess how tree species richness and composition recover during secondary succession across gradients in environmental conditions and anthropogenic disturba...

Stakeholder groups are not homogeneous across individuals and through time, especially in relation to the importance of ecosystem services. However, the approaches commonly used to characterize the average importance and values of stakeholder groups overlook the heterogeneity in the individual priorities. This heterogeneity is particularly relevant...

Ecosystem service (ES) models can only inform policy design adequately if they incorporate ecological processes. We used the Lund-Potsdam-Jena managed Land (LPJmL) model, to address following questions for Mexico, Bolivia and Brazilian Amazon: (i) How different are C stocks and C sequestration quantifications under standard (when soil and litter C...

As part of a set of ongoing changes to the Journal, in this Editorial we would like to announce its new name: Ecosystems and People. In 2010, the term ‘Ecosystem Services’ was added to the International Journal of Biodiversity Science & Management, which had existed since 2005. This was done to position it as a natural sciences journal that also fo...

The nutrient demands of regrowing tropical forests are partly satisfied by nitrogen-fixing legume trees, but our understanding of the abundance of those species is biased towards wet tropical regions. Here we show how the abundance of Leguminosae is affected by both recovery from disturbance and large-scale rainfall gradients through a synthesis of...

Effects of long-term rainfall inter-annual variation on regeneration dynamics of tropical dry forests (TDF) are still poorly understood. Such understanding is particularly important to assess the regeneration potential of TDF in landscapes subjected to slash-and-burn farming management. Here, we studied from 2004 to 2016 the effects of inter-annual...

Tropical secondary forests are important sinks for atmospheric carbon, yet C uptake and accumulation rates are highly uncertain, and the mechanisms poorly understood. We evaluated the recovery of C stocks in four pools (aboveground biomass, litter, roots and topsoil) during dry forest regrowth by combining a space for time replacement (i.e. a chron...

The rapid loss of forests with negative consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem services has drawn the attention of scientists and decision makers to deforestation and land use change. Over the last two decades, a broad range of models of land use and cover change (LUCC) have been developed to assist in land management and to better understand,...

Significance Identifying and explaining regional differences in tropical forest dynamics, structure, diversity, and composition are critical for anticipating region-specific responses to global environmental change. Floristic classifications are of fundamental importance for these efforts. Here we provide a global tropical forest classification tha...

Global sustainability initiatives are gaining momentum and impact, and place-based research can provide complementary insights to strengthen them. Here, we explore the current and potential role of place-based research into informing global sustainability initiatives by assessing the strengths, challenges, and opportunities. We show that place-base...

En el ordenamiento territorial, uno de los aspectos más importantes para tener en cuenta es la conservación de bienes y servicios ecosistémicos, lo cual se puede hacer mediante la identificación áreas prioritarias, que surgen cuando están en riesgo o son vulnerables a cambios que disminuyen su capacidad para proveer el servicio o actividad consider...

Response diversity, defined as the variable responses of species to environmental change, has been proposed as. a key determinant of ecosystem resilience. We test this hypothesis along a tropical dry forest successional chronosequence that provides a gradient of species richness and diversity. The system experienced a strong disturbance from Jova,...

There is a growing understanding of the strong interdependence between societies and ecosystems, and from this vision the concept of socialecological system (SS) arises, as part of a new paradigm. This article presents an analysis of the contributions of Mexican scholars to the analysis of SS. First, we review the basic concepts of socioecological...