Reimagining biodiversity policy: a dialogue between science and policy

Earlier this month, we convened a diverse group of policymakers and scientists for a full-day workshop exploring this question. The workshop concluded the BI4Biodiversity project, a broader, cross-disciplinary initiative led by the EU Policy Lab to lay the foundations for a behavioural research agenda that supports EU policies affecting biodiversity. This scoping initiative is expected to spur more targeted, follow-up behavioural science projects. 

Why behavioural insights matter for biodiversity 

The decline of biodiversity worldwide is primarily driven by five main factors: land and sea use change, overexploitation, climate change, pollution, and invasive species. These pressures are fundamentally shaped by human behaviour: our consumption patterns, land management choices and societal norms.  If we want to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, we need to address the behaviours that drive it and how we design policies. To do this, all actors in society are key.  

Despite this, behavioural science remains underused in biodiversity policy. Yet it offers tools to understanding why people act the way they do: the habits, incentives, emotions and social norms that shape decisions. While behavioural insights have already improved policy in areas like health, finance and energy their potential remains vastly underused in biodiversity policy. The gap presents both a challenge and an opportunity: by integrating empirical behavioural evidence into policy design, we can create regulations and initiatives that not only direct behaviour, but inspire voluntary shifts towards more sustainable interactions with nature.  

From research to policy: a step-by-step approach 

The workshop built on the broader scoping BI4Biodiversity project that combined expertise from behavioural scientists, natural scientists, economists, foresight specialists, and data analysts in three workstreams: 

1. A literature review mapped the behavioural research already done on biodiversity and where the gaps lie. See report.
2. A media analysis explored how biodiversity is communicated to the public (its framing, sentiment, and the persuasion techniques used).
3. A Delphi survey gathered input from both natural and behavioural scientists to identify shared research priorities and areas of consensus. 

The workshop brought these threads together, offering a platform for dialogue among colleagues from 7 European Commission Directorates-General, two EU agencies and 13 scientific institutions. Such multidisciplinary and multi-institutional collaboration enabled fresh perspectives to flow freely across traditional boundaries, enriching understanding and fostering shared ownership of the research agenda.  

A space for shared understanding 

One of the workshop’s highlights was its practical, participatory approach. Participants took part in four hands-on activities designed to surface the complexity of human-nature interactions 

1. Icebreaker 

We started with a playful icebreaker: standing in a circle, participants each named a key actor for biodiversity and used green or red yarn to link them to others: green for enabling relationships, red for constraining ones. The result was a colourful, human-scale behavioural systems map that helped participants visualise the kind of mapping we would build during the workshop making the concept tangible right from the start. 

2. Mapping the system 

In groups, participants identified key actors, their behaviours, and the factors that shape them: whether structural (socio-cultural, political, economic, technological, environmental or legal) or psychological. This resulted in a shared behavioural systems map that laid out the complexity of human–nature interactions.  

3. Spotting leverage points 

Participants explored how behaviours and structural factors reinforce or constrain one another (relationships). They voted on the most promising leverage points—places where behavioural research could have the greatest potential for impact.  

4. Drafting a research agenda 

Building on the map, participants proposed concrete research questions tied to each selected leverage point. They distinguished between exploratory research (to understand behaviour) and testing research (to evaluate interventions), and linked questions to relevant EU policy areas.  

What came out of it? 

• A behavioural systems map capturing actors, behaviours, influences and relationships.
• A shortlist of priority leverage points for behavioural research.
• A first draft of a behavioural research agenda aligned with policy needs. 

• Stronger connections between scientists and policymakers and greater awareness on what behavioural science can do for biodiversity. 

• Learned lessons from running a first workshop on behavioural systems maps 

The workshop confirmed the value of dialogue across disciplines and sectors. It also showed that behavioural science has much to offer but must be better aligned with real policy challenges. 

What’s next? 

The workshop was a scoping exercise, not a final answer. Its outputs will feed into a report and set the direction for future targeted research projects, focusing on concrete biodiversity issues such as financing nature restoration, supporting farmer transitions, or increasing citizen engagement. 

This project marks a first step toward embedding behavioural science more deeply in biodiversity policy. To protect nature, we need to better understand how we behave and how policy can support change. 

Stay tuned for more updates as this project advances and stay in touch with us.