POWERBIODIV | Navigating Power in Participatory Process for Biodiversity Conservation: A Tool for Thought

Participatory approaches are increasingly used in biodiversity conservation to build trust, reduce conflict, and create more lasting decisions. By bringing together diverse voices (local communities, scientists, policymakers, NGOs) they aim to shape strategies that protect both people and nature.

But more participation does not automatically mean better outcomes.

Power matters.

When power dynamics are overlooked, participation can become superficial, reinforcing old inequalities and even deepening tensions. Power shapes who is heard, whose knowledge counts, and who is left outside decision-making. If we don’t name and reflect on these dynamics, we risk failing the very goals of fairness and impact that participatory processes aim for.

This Tool for Thought invites conservation practitioners, researchers, and facilitators to reflect more consciously on how power operates in participatory settings and how we might respond with greater care and imagination. It introduces a shared vocabulary to talk about power clearly and constructively. It proposes key concepts, and reflective questions to help make power
more visible, more easy to talk about openly, and more actionable.

This resource is for anyone who works, or aspires to work, at the intersection between biodiversity, participation, and social change.
It speaks to:

• Conservation practitioners managing biodiversity and natural resources in collaboration with communities
• Researchers exploring biodiversity, social-ecological systems, and participatory approaches
• Facilitators designing and leading participatory processes across diverse settings

But it also offers insights to those shaping the conditions for participation:

• Policy makers who commission participatory processes and seek to design them more inclusively
• Advocacy leaders, project designers, and funders thinking about how power affects whose voices are heard and whose knowledge is valued
• Institutional actors committed to shifting practices toward more equity, justice, and shared stewardship.

Rather than offering strict categories, this Tool for Thought invites a moreluid perspective: wherever you sit on the ground, in research, at policy levels, or inbetween, you are part of shaping how power flows through conservation efforts.