Here is a recording of our latest webinar for the PECS webinar series.
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Title:
Expanding Stakeholders: Including Non-Human Species in Futures Thinking
Abstract:
The Nature Futures Framework is a heuristic tool that focuses on envisioning positive human-nature relationships. The tool is aimed at exploring plural perspectives when it comes to imagining transformative, multi-scale scenarios for nature. However, this method is inherently anthropocentric, as humans are placed at the centre of the process of coming up with desirable futures, goals, and visions that can inform decision-making by humans for both humans and nature. This study aims to soften this limitation by exploring a complementary ecopsychology method based on the ‘Council of All Beings’ where participants are asked to step aside from their human identity and speak on behalf of another species. In two workshops—one utilising the Nature Futures Framework and another incorporating the Council of All Beings process—we compare the depth and types of futures that emerge. The results describe the potential of incorporating trans-species accompaniment into the Nature Futures Framework tool. In doing so, it expands the concept of plurality in futures work, opening more diverse value perspectives for nature. Additionally, it offers a novel perspective on the development of nature-people scenarios which could inform nature for nature policies.
Bio:
Dr. Andrea Marais-Potgieter is a Conservation Psychologist specialising in social-ecological systems. She is based in Cape Town, South Africa. With over 20 years of experience in psychological research across 17 African countries, she has spent nearly a decade focusing on the intricate human-nature nexus. Her work investigates the diverse ways people relate to nature, the factors shaping these relationships, and how life experiences, psychological influences, and existential concerns affect perceptions of the environment and animals.
Currently, Andrea is part of a global project, Solving the Sustainability Challenges at the Food-Climate-Biodiversity Nexus in the Marine Environment, with Prof. Laura Pereira at the Global Change Institute. This initiative spans West Africa, Canada, China, Costa Rica, and the Netherlands, employing the Nature Futures Framework to navigate the future of human-nature relationships through three core values of nature. She also has a deep interest in trans-species accompaniment, a concept that integrates non-human perspectives into decision-making processes that affect them.
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This is the latest in a series of webinars. Past recordings can be found here.
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