Human-nature connectedness as leverage point

Despite early warnings (Meadows et al. 1972), humanity continues to exceed planetary boundaries (Rockstrom et al. 2009; Steffen et al. 2015). The unprecedented anthropogenic impacts on the climate ...


Human-nature connectedness as leverage point
The need for transformative change Despite early warnings (Meadows et al. 1972), humanity continues to exceed planetary boundaries (Rockström et al. 2009;Steffen et al. 2015). The unprecedented anthropogenic impacts on the climate (IPCC 2014(IPCC , 2018 and natural habitats brought in the new geological epoch of the Anthropocene ). The Anthropocene is characterized by a sixth mass extinction event (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005;Barnosky et al. 2011;Hughes et al. 2017), which negatively impacts the functioning and resilience of ecosystems (Carpenter et al. 2005;Biggs et al. 2012). Consecutively, the loss and degradation of ecosystems impairs not only goods that can be extracted from ecosystems but also aspects of human wellbeing depends, including places for inspiration, relaxation or sense of belonging (IPBES 2019; Riechers et al. 2020b).
Despite intensified efforts over the years both in science and society, numerous indicators of social and biophysical unsustainability continue to increase exponentially (Ripple et al. 2017). Many agreements on various iterations of global goals for sustainability (such as the Millennium Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals) have been made public, yet for many indicators there is an ever-growing, rather than shrinking, 'sustainability gap' (Fischer et al. 2007). Instead of approximating the internationally agreed sustainability goals, humanity is experiencing a growing discrepancy between the ideal and the actual state of the world (Steffen et al. 2018). As this discrepancy between efforts and goals shows, onedimensional and conventional ways for solving these problems are insufficient to foster sustainability (Santos-Martín et al. 2013).
To overcome this discrepancy, a systems approach may allow more holistic pathways towards reaching sustainability. In many cases, the adaptation to changing environmental conditions and halting degradation of the natural resources that human wellbeing depends on requires transformation of the entire system. Nevertheless, transformations of systems are difficult to induce (Meadows 1999). Thus, knowledge of where to intervene in a system and what consequences and ripple effects these interventions might bring about for system resilience are needed to foster an effective and lasting sustainability transformation.
In this Editorial for the Special Issue 'Humannature connectedness as leverage points for sustainability transformation', we present an overview of how human-nature connectedness may foster such lasting sustainability transformation by using a leverage points perspective.

Human-nature connectedness as leverage point
We argue that a leverage points perspective  can help us to identify and trigger interventions for deep transformative change. Leverage points are places in a complex system in which small interventions can have wide ranging influences to bring about system change and may hold great potential for system transformation (Meadows 1999). Donella Meadows highlighted 12 places to intervene in a system, which Abson et al. (2017) summarized into four system characteristics: (1) parameters (e.g. constants, buffer stocks), (2) changes in feedbacks (length of delay, strength of feedback), (3) changes in system design (information flows, rules), and (4) changes in the intent (goals, paradigms) encapsulated by the system with increasing order of effectiveness for a system transformation. 'Deep' leverage points, which encompass the design and intent of a system, might be more difficult to access, but have greater transformative potential than 'shallow' leverage points (parameters, feedbacks) in which interventions can be relatively easy but may bring little overall change in the function of the system (Meadows 1999;Abson et al. 2017). A synthesizing discussion on how the articles in this Special Issue highlight four key advantages of the leverage points perspective can be found in Riechers et al. (2021, this issue).
One realm of leverage is human-nature connectedness, as disconnection of people and societies from nature may exacerbate the global environmental crisis by enhancing unsustainable behaviour patterns (Miller 2005;Nisbet et al. 2009;Riechers et al. 2020b). Changes in the broader historical social-ecological system (Balázsi et al. 2019), rapid landscape simplification (Riechers et al. 2020a) or urbanisation (Miller 2005) are just a few factors that can decrease and alter human-nature connectedness. Yet, beneficial effects of connections between humans and nature are widely recognized for sustainability (Folke et al. 2011;Zylstra et al. 2014). Benefits include positive outcomes for health (Maller et al. 2006;Shanahan et al. 2016), the cognitive development of children (Taniguchi et al. 2005;Giusti 2019), and overall happiness and well-being (Capaldi et al. 2014). As an attempt to combine this longstanding work of many disciplines, the notion of human-nature connectedness comprises a wide range of concepts and means to operationalize notions of human-nature interactions . Within this realm, prominent literature includes notions of a 'connectedness to nature' (Mayer and Frantz 2004), 'nature relatedness' (Nisbet et al. 2009), or 'connectivity with nature' (Dutcher et al. 2007) (for a more comprehensive overview see Restall and Conrad 2015;Ives et al. 2017).
While this literature is rich and vast, many calls for a 'reconnection' with nature have remained vague and abstract. So far, a comprehensive assessment of human-nature connectedness and how to foster it and enable transformative system change is lacking. The leverage points perspective may be able to illustrate places to intervene in a system with promising potential to cause positive ripple effects though human-nature connectedness. The current Special Issue aims at illustrating leverage points by providing a selection of topics and approaches to identify interventions that foster human-nature connectedness.

Contributions to this Special Issue
The contributions in this Special Issue cover a broad geographical range ( Figure 1), with four empirical case studies from Europe, including Finland, Germany and Spain, one study from the Americas (Colombia), one from Africa (Ghana) and one from Asia (Japan). In addition, other studies in this issue have covered examples from Sweden, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and Tajikistan. The scale of the studies primarily involves local or regional cases, with some cases addressing a national context and a review with an international scope.
To give an overview of the articles in this Special Issue, we provide a summary based on overarching themes. The 11 articles of this Special Issue can be grouped into two main themes based on how the authors address human-nature connectedness: 1) a focus on different dynamics and interactions within social-ecological systems, with frameworks such as landscape sustainability, nature stewardship, and adaptation to climate change; and 2) a focus on finding transformative pathways reconnecting society with nature including methodologies based on artsbased experiences and visioning exercises, as well as a shift towards relational thinking ( Table 1). The two themes are not mutually exclusive and the topic of transformation is inherent in all discussion around leverage points, yet this distinction serves to highlight the focus of the articles in this Special Issue.

Social-ecological systems dynamics and interactions
Social-ecological systems are complex, dynamic systems in which interactions between system components are determined by several values and meanings of humannature connections. In this Special Issue, Bieling et al. (2020), Chakroun and Droz (2020) and Pérez-Ramírez  Bieling et al. (2020) state that values of nature are considered essential, though ill-defined, ingredients of sustainability transformations. Three types of ethical reasoning about why and how people should care about nature (i.e. Prudence, Justice and Good life) were used to highlight the role of values of nature (i.e. instrumental, intrinsic and relational) in landscape stewardship conceptualizations. To exemplify, two case studies were presented from recent initiatives advancing landscape sustainability in Baden-Württemberg (i.e. insect conservation and pesticides use) and in Rhein-Hunsrück (i.e. wind park development and locals' emotional bond with landscapes) in Germany. The authors state that interventions should emerge from understanding the way values guide thinking and actions for caring for nature and should be tailored towards addressing the complexity of values in different contexts.
Through the framework of milieu, Chakroun and Droz (2020), explore the diversity of ways in which humans live with nature in three value-rich landscapes with different nature protection and landscape management strategies (i.e. natural parks, Satoyama and permaculture) in Japan. Through these examples, the authors show how humans continuously evolve with the milieu they live in (Droz 2018), which contains, among others, meanings and values (Gibson 1979) resulting from interactions between humans and nature over generations. Chakroun and Droz (2020) exemplify how individual perceptions are interconnected with collective perceptions about nature within a certain milieu. Every milieu is unique; therefore, sustainability cannot be levered without considering the diversity of ways humans live with nature.
Further, Pérez-Ramírez et al. (2021), show that participatory farming and promotion of agroecological principles hold multiple benefits for human-nature connectedness, while promoting sustainable food production and well-being. This study found that factors such as social importance of agricultural landscapes, linkages with farming activities, time spent outdoors, gender, and urban origin influence human-nature connectedness. In addition, it was found that women showed a stronger and broader worldview on the philosophical arguments about their connection with nature, while men identified themselves and nature through more cognitive responses. Pérez-Ramírez et al. (2021) highlight the potential of collective farming actions for the transformation of agri-food systems and the quality of relationships with nature in a pilot living lab project in Madrid called Agrolab (Spain).
The impact of nature policies and decisions upon communities and their values mirrors the awareness with which complex systems are governed. Recognizing and integrating multidimensional values into policies that govern complexity is challenging in practice. So far, the least integrated values are relational values, which reflect the qualities of the relationship between nature and humans (Chan et al. 2016). Based on the nature policy of Europe, the contribution by Mattijssen et al. (2020) show the importance of such values for policy and discuss several routes through which incorporation of relational values into nature policies can lead to transformation in the three realms of leverage by Abson et al. (2017): re-think (e.g. pluralized meanings of nature, relational language), re-structure (e.g. integrated landscape policy, community engagement) and When navigating complex social-ecological systems toward sustainability, adaptation to climate change should build on systemic conceptualizations, while remaining locally focused when applied. Considering the severe impact of climate change in the agricultural systems, Rosengren et al. (2020) explore leverage points for strengthening the adaptive capacity of small-scale farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana. The article explores possibilities to fast-track positive adaptive capacity trajectories at the farm and food system, using the leverage points perspective. Consequently, 15 place-specific leverage points are presented in the topics: gender equality, social learning, information and knowledge, and access to finance. Finally, Rosengren et al. (2020) identify four benefits of using leverage points for adaptive capacity in adaptation planning: i) provide guidance on where to intervene in a system, ii) provide the ability to deal with complex systems, iii) embrace both casual and teleological decision-making and iv) target at deep, transformative change.

Pathways for transformative change
Sustainability transformation requires shifts in current paradigms that determine collective behaviours and relationships with the living environment. In this process, a multitude of approaches may tackle change and reconfigure the role of nature in individuals' or society's worldviews.
One of these approaches are arts-based practices, which can highlight connections between body and mind and reveal unspoken realities of a (dis)connectedness with nature. Arts-based practices, especially when connected with science, may promote pro-environmental behaviours for a more sustainable future (Muhr 2020;Raatikainen et al. 2020;Richardson et al. 2020). In environmental education, arts-based methods (e.g. theatre exercises, drawings, playful methods) could engage pupils in a process of resignification of key concepts, for example, about agroecology (Goris et al. 2019). Raatikainen et al. (2020) apply an arts-based research methodology to conduct an environmental education activity with pupils regarding the management and conservation of meadows and wood-pastures in Finland, focussing on conceptualizing the human-nature relationship. The authors use arts-based practices as levers for transformative learning about sustainability. To promote transformative changes, society also needs to be innovative in the development of pedagogical and learning approaches (Oteros-Rozas et al. 2019). In addition, as seen in Raatikainen et al. (2020), selecting an arts-based method is also a way to enhance social engagement, empathy and stewardship feelings towards nature.
Similarly, Muhr (2020) explores the potential of arts-based methods to overcome the reliance on language and unveil nuances of human-nature connectedness beyond words. To do so, Muhr (2020) presents three studies applying arts-based methods in research approaches on human-nature connectedness, showing the potential of arts to evoke deep emotional connections with nature. Additionally, Muhr (2020) remarks that arts-based research can also serve as a deep leverage point of sustainability transformation in the way we produce, use and exchange knowledge, going beyond scientific paradigms to integrate other sources and worldviews.
Another effective pathway towards enhancing transformative change is the one presented by Rana et al. (2020) -envisioning the futures of nature and people. This article is based on the results of a participatory scenario workshop with early career professionals at an IPBES event in Brazil that helped to identify leverage points towards sustainable and desirable futures. The exercise was built on the Seeds of Good Anthropocene concept, using the Nature Futures Framework, where inspiring initiatives are characterized by having a transformative positive impact at other initiatives, sectors, existing values and more (Bennett et al. 2016). In this regard, Rana et al. (2020) present four envisioned and desirable futures elaborated during the workshop where humanity has organized itself, the economy, politics and technology, to achieve improved naturehuman well-being.
Societal disconnectedness from nature highlights the need for a relational turn to re-think the role of nature for human well-being. Engaging in different ways with nature and cultivating holistic worldviews and relational thinking are ingredients of the transformation itself. In this sense, Richardson et al. (2020) promote five types of positive relationships with nature (i.e. sensory contact, emotional, beauty, meaning and compassion). The authors present four practical examples from the United Kingdom and New Zealand where the pathways approach successfully informed interventions for human-nature relationships. As they claim, applying this framework in designing different interventions (e.g. landscape design, arts, transports, resident management) may strengthen the human-nature relationship at societal level, in all of the four system characteristics parameters, feedbacks, design, and intent . West et al. (2020) advance the concept of a 'relational turn' as an alternative to dualistic research paradigms that polarize complex systems into separate spheres (i.e. 'humans' and 'nature', or 'social' and 'ecological'). Therefore, West et al. (2020) propose a paradigm shift in sustainability sciences and society toward focusing on relational approaches. The authors identify four major themes in relational thinking: continually unfolding processes, embodied experience, reconstructing language, and concepts and practices of care.

Concluding remarks
The contributions in this Special Issue offer various perspectives on human-nature connectedness and shed light on how working towards this connectedness may foster system transformations towards more sustainable pathways. From the starting points of conservation, education, stewardship and shifts in the perception of the dichotomy of what humans and nature are, the articles included in this Special Issue exemplify human-nature connectedness as a realm of leverage. These articles highlight that understanding and recognizing values and meanings of nature are indispensable for nature stewardship and governance. Further, simultaneous interventions in multiple leverage points could foster sustainability transformations. Together with authors from the articles in this Special Issue, we offer a second part of this Editorial (Riechers et al. 2021, this issue), presenting synergies, open questions and implications based on the insights that this Special Issue contributes to the scientific as well as societal discourse on human-nature connectedness as a leverage point for societal transformation.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).