Transformative change towards a fair and sustainable world
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25260/EA.26.36.1.0.2660Keywords:
biodiversity crisis, underlying causes, transformative strategies, visions and valuesAbstract
1. The current biodiversity crisis requires transformative change: a deep, systemic, and deliberate reconfiguration f how we think, organize and act in relation to nature. This teaching aid adapts, for educational purposes, the main findings of the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment.
2. It examines the underlying causes of biodiversity loss (such as disconnection from nature, concentration of power and extractivist logics) and shows how these interact with the indirect and direct drivers of environmental degradation.
3. It identifies five complementary strategies to enable transformation: conserving and regenerating ecosystems, transforming productive sectors, reorienting the economic and financial system, reorganizing governance and promoting alternative visions and values.
4. It also presents guiding principles such as justice, inclusion, reciprocity with nature and adaptive learning.
5. Using the case of the Os Miñarzos Fisheries Interest Marine Reserve (Galicia, Spain), it illustrates how local action can reshape perspectives, structures and practices, generating sustainable impacts. Alongside this case, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative is included as an example of fundamental transformations in governance, health capacities and equity.
6. Implications. Taken together, this teaching aid offers an accessible and applicable framework for teachers and students, fostering a critical understanding of the roots of the socio-ecological crisis and providing conceptual and practical tools to imagine and build just and sustainable futures.
References
Agrawal, P., A. Neel, A. S. Deresse, S. Gerber, and O. Alonge. 2023. Facilitators and barriers to community engagement in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative - A mixed methods study. PLOS Glob Public Health 3:e0001643. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001643.
CBD. 2022. Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (CBD/COP/15/L.25). URL: tinyurl.com/2a8bse9j.
Dudley, N., L. Higgins-Zogib, and S. Mansourian. 2009. The links between protected areas, faiths, and sacred natural sites. Conserv Biol 23:568-577.
Frantzeskaki, N., S. A. Lambertucci, E. R Carr, J. Dempsey, E. Karamidehkordi, et al. 2024. Overcoming the challenges of achieving transformative change towards a sustainable world (Versión v4). Chapter 4 en K. O’Brien, L. A. Garibaldi and A. Agrawal (eds.). IPBES Transformative Change Assessment. IPBES Secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16311349.
Garibaldi, L. A., S. Villasante, A. Sengupta, P. Galansino, D. S. Gómez Carella, et al. En revisión. Transformative change in practice: Lessons from initiatives addressing biodiversity loss. PNAS. Submitted July 2025.
Global Polio Eradication Initiative. 2016. Technical guidance: mOPV2 vaccine management, monitoring, removal and validation. GPEI.
Global Polio Eradication Initiative. 2017. Guidance note on cold-chain logistics and vaccine management during polio supplementary immunization activities (Annex-2 updated May 2017). GPEI.
Global Polio Eradication Initiative. s.f. Surveillance (sitio web). URL: tinyurl.com/4k8fmsrk.
Gosnell, H., V. Reyes-García, Y. Zinngrebe, R. Almeida Magris, K. Benessaiah, et al. 2024. Realizing a sustainable world for nature and people: transformative strategies, actions and roles for all. Chapter 5 en K. O’Brien, L. A. Garibaldi and A. Agrawal (eds.). IPBES Transformative Change Assessment. IPBES Secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11382249
Gurung, J., J. Leventon, F. Wickson, J. Dabezies, T. Olemako, et al. 2024. Transformative change and a sustainable world. Chapter 1 en K. O’Brien, L. A. Garibaldi and A. Agrawal (eds.). IPBES Transformative Change Assessment. IPBES Secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15120314.
IPBES. 2024. Summary for policymakers of the thematic assessment report on the underlying causes of biodiversity loss and the determinants of transformative change and options for achieving the 2050 vision for biodiversity of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. K. O’Brien, L. A. Garibaldi, A. Agrawal, E. Bennett, O. Biggs, et al. (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany.
Reyes-García, V., R. M. Krug, K. Benessaiah, M. Bonilla-Moheno, J. Claudet, et al. En prensa. Actions and actors driving transformative change for global sustainability. Nat Sustain. Submitted January 2025.
Reyes-García, V., V. Nelson, M. Bonilla-Moheno, V. Hausner, J. Leventon, et al. 2026. Centring Indigenous Peoples and local communities in transformative change for sustainability. A review of their roles as agents of change. Commun Earth Environ.
Singh, S., M. Youssouf, Z. A. Malik, and R. W. Bussmann. 2017. Sacred Groves: myths, beliefs, and biodiversity conservation - A case study from Western Himalaya, India. Int J Ecol ID 3828609. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/3828609.
Villasante, S., M. C. Garcia Negro, A. Carballo Penela, and G. Rodriguez. 2008. Sobre a valoración económica dos efectos do vertido do “Prestige” na pesca comercial na Costa da Morte. Pp. 665-683 en Asociación Cultural do Foro dos Recursos Mariños (ed.). X Foro dos Recursos Mariños e da Acuicultura das Rías Galegas e I Foro Iberoamericano dos Recursos Mariños e da Acuicultura: Normativa europea na calidade das augas para o marisqueo en Galicia. España.
Villasante, S., A. Tubío, I. Gianelli, P. Pita, and A. García-Allut. 2021. Ever changing times: sustainability transformations of Galician small-scale fisheries. Front Mar Sci 8:712819. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.712819
Villasante, S., L. Shannon, C. Liao, E. Betemariam, S. Cunningham, et al. 2024. Visions of a sustainable world - for nature and people. Chapter 2 en K. O’Brien, L. A. Garibaldi and A. Agrawal (eds.). IPBES Transformative Change Assessment. IPBES Secretariat, Bonn, Germany. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15261610.
Walter, M., A. Scheidel, C. Vadez, D. Del Bene, L. Temper, et al. 2025. The transformative potential of socio-environmental movements for sustainability. PNAS. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2513327123.
World Health Organization. 2025. Poliomyelitis. Fact sheet; 2 April 2025. URL: tinyurl.com/3mstbrmp.
Wiek, A., and D. Iwaniec. 2014. Quality criteria for visions and visioning in sustainability science. Sustain Sci 9:497-512. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-013-0208-6.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Lucas A. Garibaldi, Sebastián Villasante, Rafael Calderón-Contreras, Claudia Campos, Dulce S. Gómez Carella, Sergio A. Lambertucci, Néstor Mazzeo, Iago Otero, Gervasio Piñeiro, Victoria Reyes-García, Yves Zinngrebe
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain their rights as follows: 1) by granting the journal the right to its first publication, and 2) by registering the published article with a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which allows authors and third parties to view and use it as long as they clearly mention its origin (citation or reference, including authorship and first publication in this journal). Authors can make other non-exclusive distribution agreements as long as they clearly indicate their origin and are encouraged to widely share and disseminate the published version of their work.
