What is your perspective on nature? Watch the videos

Four perspectives – four futures for nature …

In Strengthening Cultural Identity, people identify with where they live. They feel connected with nature and the landscape, and consider this an integral part of their local and regional communities and essential to a meaningful life.

• Watch the video: Strengthening Cultural Identity

In Allowing Nature to Find its Way, people feel strongly about the intrinsic value of natural processes and species, and feel responsible for providing nature with sufficient space and time to develop. From this perspective, there is an extensive European nature network that also includes wildlife corridors and rivers.

• Watch the video: Allowing Nature to Find its Way

In Going with the Economic Flow, the focus is on nature to suit people’s individual lifestyle. Public authorities are responsible for ensuring a basic network of nature areas, while businesses and citizens take the initiative in nature management and development outside these areas.

• Watch the video: Going with the Economic Flow

In Working with Nature, the various functions of nature are considered the basis for human life. People use natural processes and strive for an optimal, long-term delivery of services from these natural systems to society and the economy.

• Watch the video: Working with Nature

... and four ways to get there

People not only have different perspectives on the future of nature, they also have different ideas about who should be leading the way towards that future. Some see a large role for the EU and national government, others look towards regional authorities, and then there are some who envision businesses and/or citizens themselves taking the initiative.

Finding common ground

Strengthening societal engagement in nature by involving a wide variety of actors could be key in finding new opportunities to realise nature and biodiversity goals. These videos raise awareness of the different viewpoints these actors may bring to the table or trigger them to share their own perspective; each video ends with the question: ‘This is my perspective – what’s yours?’. They can thus be used as a tool to find common ground in setting nature policies at EU, national and regional levels.

Nature Outlook for Europe

The videos are part of the Nature Outlook project by PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. The project aims to provide an inspirational building block for a new EU Biodiversity Strategy beyond 2020. The Nature Outlook report itself will be published in March 2017.