Rethinking NBS with marginalised economic knowledge: a transdisciplinary approach

Callorda Fossati, Ela;Lemaître, Andreia;Umantseva, Anya;Egmose, Jonas;Ruiz Rivera, Maria José;et.al.
(2024) 10th International Degrowth Conference and 15th Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics — Location: Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain (18.June.2024)

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Abstract
Nature-based solutions (NBS) are “actions inspired by, supported by or copied from nature […] aiming to help societies address a variety of environmental, social and economic challenges in sustainable ways.” (EC, 2015: 5 & 24). This widespread definition should not obscure the contested character of the NBS concept. A clear manifestation of contestation lies in the call “No to Nature-Based Solutions Dispossessions!” (2021). Several recent academic publications on NBS are critical reviews (e.g., Anguelovski and Corbera, 2023; Remme and Haarstad, 2022; Kiss et al. 2022) pointing to the need to pay greater attention to justice concerns and deeper forms of participation. Moreover, early EU-funded research on NBS has overlooked the sociopolitics of NBS (Harriet Bulkeley 2020) Against this background, TRANS-lighthouses (More than green - Lighthouses of transformative nature-based solutions for inclusive communities) is an EU-funded transdisciplinary project aiming to rethink the sociopolitics of NBS across different landscapes (urban, rural, forestry, coastal) while experimenting with a set of NBS initiatives in Europe (10 assessment and 8 pilot cases). These initiatives are embedded in a consortium including universities, municipalities, civil society for local democracy and youth participation, solidarity economy incubators, as well as diverse Southern associated partners from different continents. The project aims to deepen transdisciplinarity by establishing a North-South community of practice on critical and pragmatic approaches to NBS. This contribution presents, from a particular angle, the conceptual framework of TRANS-Lighthouses. The latter builds on the sociology of absences and of emergences, which is a methodological tool and epistemological operation to recognize marginalized knowledge (Santos, 2014). It focuses on identifying invisible actors and conditions which make counter-hegemonic social experiences absent and close the horizon of possible alternative futures (Santos, 2014). The angle adopted is on absences and emergences in relation to what can be understood as “the economy”. What economic figures are made absent in mainstream NBS discourse? We elaborate on the identification of absences and emergences in relation to “the economy” based on the literature review and a dialogue within the TRANS-lighthouses task force on transformative economies. We explore a diversity of alternative approaches to the economy addressing system change in human-nature relations and socio-ecological justice concerns. Of particular attention is the solidarity economy approach which self-identify the practitioners partners involved in the task force, but represent a source of marginalized knowledge broadly in society when it comes to problematize decommodification and alternatives rooted in reciprocity values and practices.
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Callorda Fossati, E., Lemaître, A., Umantseva, A., Egmose, J., Caitana, B., Fernández-Pacheco, J. L., Gouveia, P., Ruiz Rivera, M. J., & et al. (2024). Rethinking NBS with marginalised economic knowledge: a transdisciplinary approach. 10th International Degrowth Conference and 15th Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics, Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/273636