How can we transform our societies to live in harmony with nature?
On Monday, April 7, 2025, a half-day session was held to present the findings of the IPBES assessment on Transformative Changes. This event, organized since 2022 by the assessment’s technical support unit within the University of Montpellier’s Structural Programs Directorate, provided an opportunity to present this report, which was adopted last December at the11th IPBES plenary session in Namibia following three years of intensive collaboration with approximately 100 international authors.
After Philippe Augé, President of the University of Montpellier, opened the event, the morning featured two roundtable discussions featuring contributors to the assessment on Transformative Changes, two authors of the IPBES Nexus Report, and interdisciplinary researchers from Montpellier.
Roundtable Discussion: “Transformative change is necessary, urgent, and difficult, but possible: What strategies should we adopt?”
The strategies for transformative change developed in the evaluation were presented in conjunction with the Nexus evaluation, highlighting the importance of implementing solutions tailored to their specific contexts, evaluating them, and adjusting them as needed.
Speakers:
- Sebastian Villasante, coordinating author of Chapter 2, researcher in applied economics at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain);
- Stephen Woroniecki, author and fellow for Chapter 3, head of research at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (United Kingdom);
- Sandra Luque, lead author of Chapter 1 of the Nexus Assessment and research director (exceptional rank) at INRAE, within the TETIS Joint Research Unit (UMR) in Montpellier;
- Florence Palpacuer, lecturer and researcher in management at MOMA, MRM, University of Montpellier;
- Yves Zinngrebe, coordinating author of Chapter 5, deputy head of the Department of Conservation Ecology and Socio-Ecological Systems, and head of the working group on biodiversity governance and nature conservation at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ (Germany).
Roundtable Discussion: “Fostering Transformative Change: Roles for Everyone”
Areas for transformation toward sustainable food systems, the role of research in transformative change, and the knowledge gaps identified during the report’s drafting were presented. The concept of the scale of application of transformative change was mentioned, as was the importance of synergies among the various stakeholders in society.
Speakers:
- Timothée Fouqueray, “fellow” author of Chapter 2, Ph.D. in ecology, IODE, postdoctoral researcher at the CNRS (Rennes);
- Fabrice Declerck, lead author of Chapter 5.3 of the Nexus Assessment, food systems researcher at CGIAR (Montpellier);
- Gabriela Demarchi, researcher in environmental economics, MoISA, CIRAD (Montpellier);
- Niki Frantzeskaki, coordinating author of Chapter 4 and full professor of Urban Planning and Governance at Utrecht University (Netherlands);
- Coline Léandre, project officer for the “French Committee for IPBES” at the Foundation for Biodiversity Research (Montpellier).
Amarys Preuss, IPBES Stakeholder Engagement Officer, gave a presentation on the various ways to participate in the different activities led by IPBES. This was followed by Stephen Woroniecki’s account of his experience participating as an “author fellow”—that is, as a young researcher.
Remarks by François Pierrot, Vice President for International Relations at the University of Montpellier, brought the morning session to a close. The session was also punctuated on several occasions by sketches by Guillaume Monnain, which served as summaries of the discussions and the event.
