PLURALAKES - Co-creating pathways to desirable nature futures of temperate lakes

Co-creating pathways to desirable nature futures of temperate lakes Lake ecosystems are vital for sustaining biodiversity and provide crucial benefits to humanity. However, these systems face significant pressures from multiple human activities. Many temperate lakes in Northern Europe are characterized by significant gaps between their actual ecological status and environmental policy targets. Closing these gaps is challenging due to the diverse values and perspectives that stakeholders hold regarding lake ecosystems. The overarching aim of this project is to improve lake management outcomes by more effectively integrating people's plural values of lake ecosystems, including ecosystem services, into governance processes. We achieve this through the first practical implementation of the 'Nature Futures Framework' (NFF) to lake ecosystems and their catchment areas. The NFF is a newly developed tool by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) to guide change processes towards desirable futures for nature and people. We will operationalize the NFF for lake ecosystems through case studies in three catchment areas in Northern Europe (United Kingdom, Finland and The Netherlands), which represent a range of environmental gradients and encompass many of the anthropogenic pressures faced by temperate lakes globally. In a co-creation process with relevant stakeholders in the case study areas, we will develop three types of knowledge, culminating in a generic and tested theory of change: System knowledge (what is?) - We will analyse lake dynamics, ecosystem services, and the efficacy of management measures using data synthesis and process-based modeling. We use the models to understand how lakes respond to possible futures changes in both direct and indirect drivers, notably climate change and planned interventions in the context of current policy. Target knowledge (what ought to be?) - We will co-produce knowledge about desired lake futures and preferred actions for their achievement through inclusive participatory visioning processes, aligned with the principles and perspectives outlined in the NFF. To gain a quantitative understanding of values we extend the co-creation process with formal valuation methods. Transformative knowledge (how to?) - We will identify pathways to desirable lake futures through an innovative combination of participatory workshops and target-optimizing scenario modelling, leveraging the system and target knowledge. These pathways will serve as practical guides for decision-makers and stakeholders, outlining adaptable strategies and interventions. Whereas the specific pathways are tailored to the case-specific contexts and challenges to generate local impact, PLURALAKES also yields a tested 'theory of change' comprising a process design and tools for experiential learning that can be readily extrapolated to other temperate lakes globally. Aligned with Water4All's 2023 Joint Transnational Call on Aquatic Ecosystem Services, the project contributes to topic 3, delivering innovative tools for integrating ecosystem services into water resources management, topic 2.2 through co-design of water management and evaluation of preference of efficacy of management options and topic 1.3 by using comprehensive methodologies for the valuation of aquatic ecosystem services. The project comprises five interdependent work packages, covering transdisciplinary process coordination, systems knowledge development, target knowledge co-production, transformation knowledge co-production, and overall project management. PLURALAKES represents a proactive effort to bridge the gap between policy recognition and on-the-ground lake management, offering actionable insights for sustainable freshwater futures.