TY - JOUR

T1 - Horizontal portability

T2 - A proposal for representing place-based relational values in research and policy

AU - Himes, Austin

AU - Muraca, Barbara

AU - Allen, Karen

AU - Chapman, Mollie

AU - Coelho-Junior, Marcondes G.

AU - Cundill, Georgina

AU - Gould, Rachelle K.

AU - Herrmann, Thora M.

AU - Kenter, Jasper O.

AU - Nakachi, A. Alohi

AU - Nemogá, Gabriel R.

AU - Ortiz-Przychodzka, Stefan

AU - Pearson, Jasmine

AU - Rono, Betty

AU - Saito, Tomomi

AU - Tadaki, Marc

AU - Bonn, Aletta

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). People and Nature published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - Relational values feature prominently in recent international efforts to protect global biodiversity. In this article, we provide a conceptual approach for researchers, facilitators and policy-makers to adequately represent place-based relational values in assessments of nature's value that inform practice and policy. We suggest employing horizontal portability as an alternative and complement to the dominant mode of assessing nature's value via vertical subsumption. Vertical subsumption is a process through which particular values are generalised into overarching categories to conform to more general value concepts and thereby stripped of their place-specific meanings. In contrast, horizontal portability is introduced here as a conceptual approach that maintains the contextual rootedness of place-based local expressions of value while also communicating them across places, knowledge systems, and communities. The movement (i.e. ‘porting’) is ‘horizontal’ because it allows relational values rooted in a particular biocultural context to speak to different contexts on equal terms. We discuss how research on the value of nature and people –nature relationships can support horizontal portability. Finally, we provide recommendations for the application of horizontal portability that promotes more plurality and greater inclusion of place-based relational values in research, policy and action. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

AB - Relational values feature prominently in recent international efforts to protect global biodiversity. In this article, we provide a conceptual approach for researchers, facilitators and policy-makers to adequately represent place-based relational values in assessments of nature's value that inform practice and policy. We suggest employing horizontal portability as an alternative and complement to the dominant mode of assessing nature's value via vertical subsumption. Vertical subsumption is a process through which particular values are generalised into overarching categories to conform to more general value concepts and thereby stripped of their place-specific meanings. In contrast, horizontal portability is introduced here as a conceptual approach that maintains the contextual rootedness of place-based local expressions of value while also communicating them across places, knowledge systems, and communities. The movement (i.e. ‘porting’) is ‘horizontal’ because it allows relational values rooted in a particular biocultural context to speak to different contexts on equal terms. We discuss how research on the value of nature and people –nature relationships can support horizontal portability. Finally, we provide recommendations for the application of horizontal portability that promotes more plurality and greater inclusion of place-based relational values in research, policy and action. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

KW - ecosystem accounting

KW - Indigenous peoples and local communities

KW - nature's contributions to people

KW - relational values

KW - sense of place

KW - Ecosystems Research

KW - Environmental Governance

KW - Environmental planning

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=86000751918&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/pan3.70016

DO - 10.1002/pan3.70016

M3 - Scientific review articles

AN - SCOPUS:86000751918

JO - People and Nature

JF - People and Nature

SN - 2575-8314

ER -