The Science of Transformation: From Individual Understanding to Systemic Action
The IPBES 2024 reports represent an unprecedented scientific milestone in our understanding of how to generate effective social transformation toward sustainability. Five years after the IPBES Global Assessment of 2019 documented the magnitude of the planetary biodiversity crisis, the new 2024 Transformative Change and Nexus Assessments provide the first scientifically robust answers to the central question of our time: what must we do to achieve nature-positive social transformation?
Empirical evidence from nearly 400 successful transformation cases documents for the first time the mechanisms of effective social change, revealing that transformation requires simultaneous modifications across three dimensions: our visions (ways of thinking, knowing, and seeing nature), our structures (ways of organizing, regulating, and governing), and our practices (ways of doing, behaving, and relating to ecosystems).
The Assessment identifies with scientific precision the three underlying causes that perpetuate ocean biodiversity destruction: disconnection from nature and domination over nature and other people; unequal concentration of power and wealth; and prioritization of individual and material short-term gains.
The revolutionary Nexus approach transforms our ocean understanding by empirically demonstrating that marine biodiversity, water, seafood, human health, and climate are inextricably interconnected, requiring integrated responses that generate systemic co-benefits. This systemic perspective is crucial as ocean ecosystems face irreversible biophysical tipping points such as the disappearance of shallow-water coral reefs and the collapse of global fisheries.
This keynote provides operational frameworks grounded in rigorous scientific evidence to translate understanding of these transformative mechanisms into concrete ocean rewilding strategies. With data demonstrating that positive outcomes can be achieved within a decade or less when diverse actors work collaboratively, this presentation shows that ocean transformation is not only urgent and necessary, but scientifically demonstrable, practically achievable, and economically viable.
At a critical moment where each decade of delay doubles the costs of action, this keynote translates the most advanced science available into immediately applicable tools for those seeking to catalyze transformative change in ocean conservation.