The Collaborative Governance thematic working group invites you to a webinar with Lelani Mannetti on how plural values shape sustainability visions and decision-making.
🎤 Webinar: Whose Good Life? Values and the Politics of Sustainability Transformations
🗓️ Monday, 23 March 2026
đź•‘ 09:00 Mountain (Arizona) / 12:00 Eastern / 17:00 CET / 18:00 CAT
đź”— Register to attend here
Sustainability transformations require societies to make collective decisions about what futures are desirable and how people should live with nature. Yet these decisions are shaped by diverse values, knowledge systems, and understandings of human well-being. Collaborative governance processes increasingly attempt to bring these perspectives together, holding promise for more inclusive and legitimate decision-making. In practice, however, such efforts often surface tensions that are difficult to navigate.
Drawing on research on social–ecological systems governance and international science–policy work with IPBES, this talk explores how plural values shape sustainability visions and decision-making. It highlights emerging discussions around human well-being and biodiverse livelihoods, while examining the tensions that arise when different ways of valuing nature meet in governance processes. Understanding these tensions is essential for designing governance approaches capable of supporting equitable and transformative sustainability pathways.
ℹ️ More information on the speaker:
Dr. Lelani Mannetti is an Assistant Professor in the Urban Studies Institute at Georgia State University. Her research examines how governance, values, and knowledge systems shape pathways toward more just and sustainable futures in social–ecological systems. She has contributed extensively to international science–policy processes, including the Values Assessment and Transformative Change Assessment for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Her work explores how different understandings of human well-being and relationships with nature influence sustainability visions, policy decisions, and transformation pathways. Recent research examines emerging discussions around biodiverse livelihoods and the growing tensions between dominant models of development, rising consumption patterns, and alternative visions of a good life. At Georgia State University, Dr. Mannetti teaches courses on environmental sustainability, urban ecology, and climate justice, engaging students in critical and collaborative approaches to navigating sustainability transformations.
