The FRB in action
Project ended in 2025
POWERBIODIV
Understanding power dynamics in stakeholder participation: integrating theory and practice for effective biodiversity conservation
The complex nature of biodiversity conservation has led to increased stakeholder engagement through participatory processes, but often without a clear understanding of how or if they lead to stronger or more sustainable biodiversity outcomes. Recent studies highlight the urgent need for a more comprehensive understanding of the multiple dimensions of power that pervade such processes, and how this understanding can lead to improved processes and biodiversity conservation.
Based on a transdisciplinary approach, POWERBIODIV will address the existing gap in understanding linkages between power dynamics and improved stakeholder participation processes in biodiversity conservation. It asks:
- How can a multidimensional power analysis allow us to better understand the context, design and social and biodiversity outcomes of stakeholder participation processes?
- What strategies in theory and practice exist to overcome the challenges related to power dynamics?
- What role can and should researchers, institutional representatives and practitioners play in the design and implementation of stakeholder participation processes that address power dynamics?
POWERBIODIV will adopt an “evidence informed” approach that includes scientific and grey literatures but also other expert knowledge and sources of validated evidence. To do so, POWERBIODIV will use well recognized methodologies for knowledge synthesis including high quality systematic reviews to integrate social and political theories of power in the conservation literature, with solution scanning and expert consultation to access the perspectives, stories, and knowledges not typically represented in conservation literature. POWERBIODIV will benefit both science and practice by providing a practical approach to addressing and integrating power dynamics in stakeholder processes with the aim of improving sustainable biodiversity conservation.
Want to learn more? In 2025, the POWERBIODIV group has released two ressource documents to help explore power dynamics in participatory processes related to biodiversity:
RESEARCHERS
PIs:
James BUTLER – CSIRO (Australia);
Juliette YOUNG – INRAE (France)
Post-doc:
Lou LECUYER – FRB-Cesab (France)
ouvrir/fermer
Participants:
POWERBIODIV brings together specialists in political science, sociology, conservation biology, geography, facilitation, conflict management, ecology and anthropology.
PROJECT
POWERBIODIV was selected from the 2020 call for proposals. The project selection process was carried out by a committee of independent experts.
COMMUNICATION
[FR – Interview] Les formes de pouvoir à l’œuvre dans les processus participatifs : un levier pour des actions de conservation plus efficaces ? Rencontre avec Lou Lecuyer (2024)
[EN – Conference] Blue and Green Justice (2025)
Webinar - Cesabinar
In November 2025, Lou Lecuyer (LECA, CNRS – Univ. Grenoble Alpes & Savoie Mt Blanc) presented the results of the POWERBIODIV group at a Cesabinar, available below.
Abstract
The PowerBiodiv project investigates how power dynamics influence participatory processes in biodiversity conservation, drawing on insights from political science, sociology, facilitation practice, and conservation research. While power is often acknowledged as a key issue in stakeholder participation, it remains inconsistently defined and poorly integrated into biodiversity literature and practice. This project synthesizes existing knowledge on power across disciplines to inform both research and applied approaches in conservation.
This CESABINAR will present the four complementary outputs expected from the evidence synthesis of 82 case studies: a systematic map highlighting the scarcity of studies that thoroughly engage with power or examine its consequences; a quantitative review exploring how power dimensions influence the different stages and outcomes of participatory processes; a qualitative synthesis identifying dominant framings, assumptions, and conceptual gaps in the treatment of power; and a citation network analysis tracing the disciplinary origins and theoretical influences of power-related research. Preliminary results suggest that while power is often mentioned, it is rarely examined in depth or connected to biodiversity outcomes.
Beyond these findings, the project also offers reflections on the challenges and benefits of working in a transdisciplinary group that brings together researchers, practitioners, and institutional actors around a shared inquiry into participation and transformation.
Key publications
- Lécuyer, L., Balian, E., Butler, J. R. A., Barnaud, C., Calla, S., Locatelli, B., Newig, J., Pettit, J., Pound, D., Quétier, F., Salvatori, V., von Korff, Y. & Young, J. C. (2024). The importance of understanding the multiple dimensions of power in stakeholder participation for effective biodiversity conservation. People and Nature, 6(4), 1407-1420. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10672
- Upcoming publication : Lécuyer, L., Balian, E., Butler, J. R. A., Barnaud, C., Calla, S., Locatelli, B., Pettit, J., Pound, Salvatori, V., von Korff, Y. & Young, J. C. (2025) Tool for Thought : Navigating Power in Participatory Processes for Biodiversity Conservation
publications
[01] Lécuyer L, Balian E, Butler JRA, Barnaud C, Calla S, Locatelli B, Newig J, Pettit J, Pound D, Quétier F, Salvatori V, Von Korff Y & Young JC (2024) The importance of understanding the multiple dimensions of power in stakeholder participation for effective biodiversity conservation. People and Nature, accepted. DOI: 10.1002/pan3.10672.