Alternet Conference 2025

Achieving Transformative Change for Biodiversity

13 – 16 May 2025 – CESAM, University of Aveiro (Aveiro, Portugal)

The 2025 Alternet Conference was be hosted by our partners at CESAM – Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (Univ. Aveiro) and held in Aveiro, Portugal from 13-16 May. The theme of this conference was “Achieving Transformative Change for Biodiversity.”

Read key message and collective reflections from the 2025 Alternet Conference.

Biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate, threatening all life on Earth and, ultimately, many of the processes and functions of Earth itself. Addressing this crisis requires deep, systematic shifts in policies, institutions, behaviours and economics – far beyond incremental improvements (IPBES 2024). 

The 2025 Alternet Conference, themed “Achieving Transformative Change for Biodiversity” will explore how to address the root causes of biodiversity decline and how to drive fundamental changes needed for a just and sustainable future. Sessions will examine how we study, teach, govern, protect, restore, and include nature in human society again, inviting participants to actively engage in shaping transformative solutions. 

Through diverse session formats, the conference will address strategies for mainstreaming biodiversity across sectors (e.g., business, agriculture and forestry), highlighting nature’s diverse values and the factors that shape everyday societal decisions. The question on how to strengthen the transformative change in the science-policy interface will be central to the conference, as well as biodiversity governance and how to foster a fair, inclusive and effective dialogue between scientists and decision-makers. Transdisciplinary research, education and citizen science will be highlighted as essential tools for engagement and impact. The conference will also showcase innovations in biodiversity monitoring, collaborative approaches in nature conservation and restoration, and nature-based solutions as drivers of systematic change. Discussions will examine how to build resilience to climate extremes, address the biodiversity-climate-society nexus and understand the crucial role of soil biota in ecosystem stability. 

By bringing together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners, the conference aims to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and inspire meaningful action for biodiversity.

Conference Sessions:

1. Advanced biodiversity monitoring in eLTER and other research infrastructures and networks
2. Transformative change for co-creation of nature restoration
3. Engaging in the science-policy interface: addressing capacity needs to meet their transformative potential
4. Nature Based Solutions for transformative change: Catalysing systemic shifts toward sustainability
5. Leveraging the diverse values of nature for transformative change
   • Abstracts and invited speakers
   • Session themes
6. Hidden Guardians: The crucial role of soil biota in resilient ecosystems for transformative change
7. Mainstreaming Biodiversity: A condition for transformative change 
8. Transformative spatial governance of biodiversity protection in Europe 
9. Unravelling lock-ins: barriers & levers for transitioning agricultural systems to support biodiversity 
10. Transformation of, through and for nature conservation – How to foster transformative change in the science-policy interface 
11. Can governmental reporting on the state of nature be transformative?
12. Transdisciplinary education and biodiversity research 
13. Transdisciplinary Pathways for Addressing the Biodiversity-Climate-Society Nexus: Insights and Collaborative Opportunities
14. Shaping Biodiversity Futures: Stories of Action, Reflection and Change 
15. Values in Action: Co-Imagining Ethics for Transformative Interfaces and Communities 
16. Citizen science for transformative biodiversity action: concept and empirical examples 
17. Transforming Forests: Integrating Conservation and Production for a Sustainable Future 

• Digital programme (with updated rooms/timing)
• Full print programme **

**Some session room locations and timing has been updated, see digital programme for most recent information.

• Ingrid J. Visseren-Hamakers (Radboud University, NL): “Transformative biodiversity governance: how to address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss“
• Vera Helene Hausner (Arctic University of Norway): The Transformative Power of Co-Creation for Ecosystem Restoration
• Alex Franklin (Coventry University, UK): Biodiversity and Societal Transformation: Becoming Response-Able
• Toke Thomas Høye (Aarhus University, DK): Automated species monitoring from the Arctic to the tropics
• Sebastian Villasante (University of Santiago de Compostela, ES): “The IPBES Transformative Change Assessment: Key Findings and the Roles for All.”
• Alexandra Aragão (UCILeR, University of Coimbra, PT): Is law the missing link between science and policy? Unlocking the transformative power of law for biodiversity”
• Gilles Doignon (European Commission): “Transformative change for biodiversity: so what? Perspectives for research and policy in a changing world”

Map of Univ. Aveiro

Learn more about CESAM (Univ. Aveiro)