Ranjini Murali

Scopus Publications

Understanding multiple pathways of the impacts of socio-economic shocks on large carnivores
Ranjini Murali, Altynai Adabaeva, Sixto Angulo, Rosario Arispe, Matthias Baumann, Arash Ghoddousi, Amirhossein Khaleghi Hamidi, Martin Jansen, Leili Khalatbari, Igor Khorozyan, Oswaldo Maillard, Daniel Müller, Alfredo Romero‐Mũnoz, Tatjana Rosen, Damian Rumiz, Alex Soshin, Gholam Hosein Yusefi, Tobias Kümmerle
People and Nature, 2025
Large carnivores are ecologically, economically and socially important, but they are also among the most threatened species worldwide. These species face numerous threats, most importantly habitat transformation, prey depletion and hunting. All of these threats could be exacerbated by socio‐economic shocks—such as financial crises, wars, pandemics or political regime shifts—that can cause sudden and structural changes in social‐ecological systems. However, the different pathways through which such shocks impact large carnivores are unclear. Here, we used a social‐ecological systems approach to build a conceptual framework that investigates these pathways. We used expert workshops and case‐specific, narrative literature reviews to illustrate this framework for three cases: (1) impacts of economic sanctions on the Asiatic cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus venaticus ) in Iran, (2) impacts of global commodity price shocks on the jaguar ( Panthera onca ) in Bolivia and (3) impacts of the collapse of the Soviet Union on the snow leopard ( P. uncia ) in Kyrgyzstan. We found that conservation and agricultural institutions were crucial for carnivore conservation, despite the different nature of the shocks and the different socio‐economic settings across cases. We identified linkages between carnivore conservation and the global economy at the levels of nations and communities, which increased the vulnerability of carnivores to shocks. Our cases highlighted the need to proactively create resilient institutions focused on local capacity building, enhancement of social stability and built on internal motivations for conservation, to secure the future of large carnivores in turbulent times. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Navigating the science policy interface: a co-created mind-map to support early career research contributions to policy-relevant evidence
Carla-Leanne Washbourne, Ranjini Murali, Nada Saidi, Sophie Peter, Paola Fontanella Pisa, Thuan Sarzynski, Hyeonju Ryu, Anna Filyushkina, Carole Sylvie Campagne, Andrew N. Kadykalo, Giovanni Ávila-Flores, Taha Amiar
Environmental Evidence, 2024
The interface between science and policy is a complex space, in theory and practice, that sees the interaction of various actors and perspectives coming together to enable policy-relevant evidence to support decision-making. Early Career Researchers (ECRs) are increasingly interested in working at the science-policy interface to support evidence-informed policy, with the number of opportunities to do so increasing at national and international levels. However, there are still many challenges limiting ECRs participation, not least how such a complex space can be accessed and navigated. While recommendations for engaging at the science-policy interface already exist, a practical ‘map’ of the science-policy interface landscape which would allow for ECR participation in evidence co-production and synthesis in science-policy is missing. With the purpose of facilitating the engagement of ECRs producing biodiversity and ecosystem services policy-relevant evidence at the interface between science and policy, the authors have co-created a ‘mind-map’—a tool to review the landscape of and leverage access to the science-policy interface. This tool was developed through reviewing published literature, collating personal experiences of the ECR authors, and validating against wider peer perspectives in an ECR workshop during the 7th Plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). This co-created tool sees ECR engagement in (co-)producing evidence at the science-policy interface as an interaction of three main factors: the environment of the ECR, which mediates their acts of engagement at the science-policy interface leading to outcomes that will ultimately have a reciprocal impact on the ECR’s environment.
‘Participatory’ conservation research involving indigenous peoples and local communities: Fourteen principles for good practice
Helen Newing, Stephanie Brittain, Ana Buchadas, Olivia del Giorgio, Catherine Fallon Grasham, Robert Ferritto, Jaime Ricardo Garcia Marquez, Munib Khanyari, Bettina König, Apoorva Kulkarni, Ranjini Murali, Siyu Qin, Judith Rakowski, Fleur Winn, Arash Ghoddousi
Biological Conservation, 2024
Assessing multiple values of nature in National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans
Ranjini Murali, Bosco Lliso, Lelani M. Mannetti, Anna Filyushkina, Sacha Amaruzaman, Ariane M. Amin, Håkon da Silva Hyldmo, Ann‐Kathrin Koessler, Dominic Lenzi, Natalia Lutti, Evonne Yiu
People and Nature, 2024
Around the world, people express a variety of values of nature based on how they relate and interact with it. These values of nature, broadly classified as instrumental, intrinsic, and relational values, underlie environmental policy and decision‐making processes. In this paper, our aim was to assess the values of nature that are expressed in national environmental policy documents. We assessed the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), the key national policy framework for biodiversity conservation, from 11 countries, representing the five regional United Nations groups. We used qualitative content analysis to identify the value orientation of the statements in the NBSAPs and the main themes under each. Across the 11 NBSAPs, unspecified value orientation statements were the most common (40%), followed by instrumental (38%), intrinsic (14%) and relational (9%) value orientation statements. We identified the main themes in the instrumental value orientation statements as follows: (1) sustainability, (2) natural resources and (3) ecosystem services. The main themes present in the intrinsic value orientation statements were as follows: (1) recognizing intrinsic value, (2) endangered species and habitats, (3) conservation programmes and (4) threats to nature. Relational value orientation statements referenced as follows: (1) duty and responsibility to protect nature, (2) values expressed for nature, (3) national pride and heritage, (4) Indigenous peoples and local community's (IP&LCs) relationships with nature, (5) protecting nature for future generations and (6) equity in the use and access of nature. Our findings indicate that NBSAPs respond to the directive of the Convention on Biological Diversity. They are primarily based on the instrumental values of nature, only rarely considering other ways in which nature is valuable to people. This can reinforce unjust outcomes for human well‐being since environmental policies may not reflect the diverse ways in which nature and biodiversity matter to the population. In an increasingly interconnected world, environmental policies are called on to incorporate multiple values to achieve positive outcomes for both human well‐being and biodiversity conservation. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
The role of religion in shaping the values of nature
Christopher Ives, Jeremy Kidwell, Christopher Anderson, Paola Arias-Arévalo, Rachelle Gould, Jasper Kenter, Ranjini Murali
Ecology and Society, 2024
Environmental discourse frequently understands the values of nature as being instrumental, intrinsic, or relational and measured in biophysical, sociocultural, or monetary terms. Yet these specific values and value indicators are underpinned by worldviews, knowledge systems, and broad values that orient people towards nature in different ways and can be shared (or diverge) across spatio-temporal and social scales. The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) <em>Values Assessment</em> emphasized the need for decision-making to embrace a plural-values approach that encompasses these diverse meanings of value to catalyze outcomes based on sustainability-aligned broad values like care, unity, reciprocity, and justice. Navigating these diverse values also highlights the salience of religion and its complexity in real-world scenarios as a force that shapes how people conceive the values of nature. For example, proposed modes of plural-value deliberation to reform institutions and shift social norms toward justice and sustainability need to be able to bridge sacred–secular policy divides. This article evaluates how religion interacts with nature’s values by building upon reviews conducted for the IPBES <em>Values Assessment</em>. We present different conceptualizations of religion and explore how these relate to various understandings of social-ecological change. Further, we delineate how religion interacts with values based on three interrelated forms of agency: personal, social, and more-than-human processes. Upon this foundation, we discuss how to better engage religion in environmental policy and research, considering four modes of mobilizing sustainability-aligned values: (1) enabling, (2) including, (3) reflecting, and (4) shifting values and two analytical axes regarding religion’s (1) social scale (individual versus collective) and (2) dynamic continuum (religion as stable versus changeable). Our assessment provides conceptual and practical tools to help consider religion in the processes and practices that shape, reinforce, or impede sustainability-aligned values for more inclusive and effective conservation decision-making.
An actor-centered, scalable land system typology for addressing biodiversity loss in the world's tropical dry woodlands
Marie Pratzer, Patrick Meyfroidt, Marina Antongiovanni, Roxana Aragon, Germán Baldi, Stasiek Czaplicki Cabezas, Cristina A. de la Vega-Leinert, Shalini Dhyani, Jean-Christophe Diepart, Pedro David Fernandez, Stephen T. Garnett, Gregorio I. Gavier Pizarro, Tamanna Kalam, Pradeep Koulgi, Yann le Polain de Waroux, Sofia Marinaro, Matias Mastrangelo, Daniel Mueller, Robert Mueller, Ranjini Murali, Sofía Nanni, Mauricio Nuñez-Regueiro, David A. Prieto-Torres, Jayshree Ratnam, Chintala Sudhakar Reddy, Natasha Ribeiro, Achim Röder, Alfredo Romero-Muñoz, Partha Sarathi Roy, Philippe Rufin, Mariana Rufino, Mahesh Sankaran, Ricardo Torres, Srinivas Vaidyanathan, Maria Vallejos, Malika Virah-Sawmy, Tobias Kuemmerle
Global Environmental Change, 2024
Land use is a key driver of the ongoing biodiversity crisis and therefore also a major opportunity for its mitigation. However, appropriately considering the diversity of land-use actors and activities in conservation assessments and planning is challenging. As a result, top-down conservation policy and planning are often criticized for a lack of contextual nuance widely acknowledged to be required for effective and just conservation action. To address these challenges, we have developed a conceptually consistent, scalable land system typology and demonstrated its usefulness for the world's tropical dry woodlands. Our typology identifies key land-use actors and activities that represent typical threats to biodiversity and opportunities for conservation action. We identified land systems in a hierarchical way, with a global level allowing for broad-scale planning and comparative work. Nested within it, a regionalized level provides social-ecological specificity and context. We showcase this regionalization for five hotspots of land-use change and biodiversity loss in dry woodlands in Argentina, Bolivia, Mozambique, India, and Cambodia. Unlike other approaches to present land use, our typology accounts for the complexity of overlapping land uses. This allows, for example, assessment of how conservation measures conflict with other land uses, understanding of the social-ecological co-benefits and trade-offs of area-based conservation, mapping of threats, or targeting area-based and actor-based conservation measures. Moreover, our framework enables cross-regional learning by revealing both commonalities and social-ecological differences, as we demonstrate here for the world's tropical dry woodlands. By bridging the gap between global, top-down, and regional, bottom-up initiatives, our framework enables more contextually appropriate sustainability planning across scales and more targeted and social-ecologically nuanced interventions.
Why nature matters: A systematic review of intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values
Austin Himes, Barbara Muraca, Christopher B Anderson, Simone Athayde, Thomas Beery, Mariana Cantú-Fernández, David González-Jiménez, Rachelle K Gould, A P Hejnowicz, Jasper Kenter, Dominic Lenzi, Ranjini Murali, Unai Pascual, Christopher Raymond, Annalie Ring, Kurt Russo, Aibek Samakov, Sanna Stålhammar, Henrik Thorén, Egleé Zent
Bioscience, 2024
In this article, we present results from a literature review of intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values of nature conducted for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as part of the Methodological Assessment of the Diverse Values and Valuations of Nature. We identify the most frequently recurring meanings in the heterogeneous use of different value types and their association with worldviews and other key concepts. From frequent uses, we determine a core meaning for each value type, which is sufficiently inclusive to serve as an umbrella over different understandings in the literature and specific enough to help highlight its difference from the other types of values. Finally, we discuss convergences, overlapping areas, and fuzzy boundaries between different value types to facilitate dialogue, reduce misunderstandings, and improve the methods for valuation of nature's contributions to people, including ecosystem services, to inform policy and direct future research.
The role of power in leveraging the diverse values of nature for transformative change
Paola Arias-Arévalo, Elena Lazos-Chavero, Ana S Monroy-Sais, Sara H Nelson, Agnieszka Pawlowska-Mainville, Arild Vatn, Mariana Cantú-Fernández, Ranjini Murali, Barbara Muraca, Unai Pascual
Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2023
An inclusive typology of values for navigating transformations towards a just and sustainable future
Christopher M. Raymond, Christopher B. Anderson, Simone Athayde, Arild Vatn, Ariane M. Amin, Paola Arias-Arévalo, Michael Christie, Mariana Cantú-Fernández, Rachelle K. Gould, Austin Himes, Jasper O. Kenter, Dominic Lenzi, Barbara Muraca, Ranjini Murali, Sebastian O’Connor, Unai Pascual, Sonya Sachdeva, Aibek Samakov, Eglee Zent
Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2023
Achieving the intertwined goals of justice and sustainability requires transformative changes to meaningfully engage diverse perspectives. Therefore, scholars and policymakers need new ways of recognising and addressing nature’s multiple values across cultures, disciplines and other knowledge traditions. By reviewing academic publications, policy documents and Indigenous and local community sources, we developed an inclusive typology of nature’s values to clarify value concepts and guide their consideration in decisions. Through case studies, we illustrate how navigating ‘horizontal’ and ‘vertical’ interactions within and across this typology can help confront plural-value challenges, such as enhancing inclusive participation in environmental research and practice, and effective management of socio-environmental conflicts. We conclude by exploring how this typology of values can further leverage transformative change in other decision-making contexts.
Diverse values of nature for sustainability
Unai Pascual, Patricia Balvanera, Christopher B. Anderson, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Michael Christie, David González-Jiménez, Adrian Martin, Christopher M. Raymond, Mette Termansen, Arild Vatn, Simone Athayde, Brigitte Baptiste, David N. Barton, Sander Jacobs, Eszter Kelemen, Ritesh Kumar, Elena Lazos, Tuyeni H. Mwampamba, Barbara Nakangu, Patrick O’Farrell, Suneetha M. Subramanian, Meine van Noordwijk, SoEun Ahn, Sacha Amaruzaman, Ariane M. Amin, Paola Arias-Arévalo, Gabriela Arroyo-Robles, Mariana Cantú-Fernández, Antonio J. Castro, Victoria Contreras, Alta De Vos, Nicolas Dendoncker, Stefanie Engel, Uta Eser, Daniel P. Faith, Anna Filyushkina, Houda Ghazi, Erik Gómez-Baggethun, Rachelle K. Gould, Louise Guibrunet, Haripriya Gundimeda, Thomas Hahn, Zuzana V. Harmáčková, Marcello Hernández-Blanco, Andra-Ioana Horcea-Milcu, Mariaelena Huambachano, Natalia Lutti Hummel Wicher, Cem İskender Aydın, Mine Islar, Ann-Kathrin Koessler, Jasper O. Kenter, Marina Kosmus, Heera Lee, Beria Leimona, Sharachchandra Lele, Dominic Lenzi, Bosco Lliso, Lelani M. Mannetti, Juliana Merçon, Ana Sofía Monroy-Sais, Nibedita Mukherjee, Barbara Muraca, Roldan Muradian, Ranjini Murali, Sara H. Nelson, Gabriel R. Nemogá-Soto, Jonas Ngouhouo-Poufoun, Aidin Niamir, Emmanuel Nuesiri, Tobias O. Nyumba, Begüm Özkaynak, Ignacio Palomo, Ram Pandit, Agnieszka Pawłowska-Mainville, Luciana Porter-Bolland, Martin Quaas, Julian Rode, Ricardo Rozzi, Sonya Sachdeva, Aibek Samakov, Marije Schaafsma, Nadia Sitas, Paula Ungar, Evonne Yiu, Yuki Yoshida, Eglee Zent
Nature, 2023
Twenty-five years since foundational publications on valuing ecosystem services for human well-being1,2, addressing the global biodiversity crisis3 still implies confronting barriers to incorporating nature’s diverse values into decision-making. These barriers include powerful interests supported by current norms and legal rules such as property rights, which determine whose values and which values of nature are acted on. A better understanding of how and why nature is (under)valued is more urgent than ever4. Notwithstanding agreements to incorporate nature’s values into actions, including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)5 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals6, predominant environmental and development policies still prioritize a subset of values, particularly those linked to markets, and ignore other ways people relate to and benefit from nature7. Arguably, a ‘values crisis’ underpins the intertwined crises of biodiversity loss and climate change8, pandemic emergence9 and socio-environmental injustices10. On the basis of more than 50,000 scientific publications, policy documents and Indigenous and local knowledge sources, the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) assessed knowledge on nature’s diverse values and valuation methods to gain insights into their role in policymaking and fuller integration into decisions7,11. Applying this evidence, combinations of values-centred approaches are proposed to improve valuation and address barriers to uptake, ultimately leveraging transformative changes towards more just (that is, fair treatment of people and nature, including inter- and intragenerational equity) and sustainable futures.
Powerful but short-lived: Pop bands as influencers of climate discussions on twitter
Briti Deb, Ranjini Murali, Harini Nagendra
Environmental Research Communications, 2023
Applying a gender lens to biodiversity conservation in High Asia
Justine Shanti Alexander, Ranjini Murali, Tserennadmid Nadia Mijiddorj, Bayarjargal Agvaantseren, Chemi Lhamo, Deepshikha Sharma, Kulbhushansingh Ramesh Suryawanshi, Lu Zhi, Koustubh Sharma, Juliette Claire Young
Frontiers in Conservation Science, 2023
Livestock husbandry and snow leopard conservation
Mohammad, Ghulam, Agvaantseren, Bayarjargal, Bijoor, Ajay, Uluu, Kuban Jumabay, Karimov, Khalil, et al.
Snow Leopards, 2023
The Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program
Koustubh Sharma, Justine Shanti Alexander, Andrew Zakharenka, Chyngyz Kochorov, Brad Rutherford, Keshav Varma, Anand Seth, Andrey Kushlin, Susan Lumpkin, John Seidensticker, Bruno Laporte, Boris Tichomirow, Rodney M. Jackson, Charudutt Mishra, Bakhtiyar Abdiev, Abdul Wali Modaqiq, Sonam Wangchuk, Zhang Zhongtian, Shakti Kant Khanduri, Bakytbek Duisekeyev, Batbold Dorjgurkhem, Megh Bahadur Pandey, Syed Mahmood Nasir, Muhammad Ali Nawaz, Irina Fominykh, Nurali Saidov, Nodirjon Yunusov, Ranjini Murali
Snow Leopards, 2023
Science on ecosystems and people to support the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
Matthias Schröter, Marta Berbés-Blázquez, Christian Albert, Rosemary Hill, Torsten Krause, Jacqueline Loos, Lelani M. Mannetti, Berta Martín-López, Amrita Neelakantan, John A. Parrotta, Cristina Quintas-Soriano, David J. Abson, Rob Alkemade, Bas Amelung, Brigitte Baptiste, Edmundo Barrios, Houria Djoudi, Evangelia G. Drakou, Isabelle Durance, Marina García Llorente, Davide Geneletti, Zuzana V. Harmáčková, Sander Jacobs, Nina N. Kaiser, Jonathan Kingsley, Sarah Klain, María José Martínez-Harms, Ranjini Murali, Patrick O’Farrell, Ram Pandit, Laura Pereira, Sakshi Rana, Maraja Riechers, Graciela M. Rusch, Juan E. Sala, Catharina J.E. Schulp, Nadia Sitas, Suneetha M Subramanian, Sebastian Villasante, Alexander van Oudenhoven
Ecosystems and People, 2023
Engaging women brings conservation benefits to snow leopard landscapes
Justine Shanti Alexander, Ajay Bijoor, Kalzang Gurmet, Ranjini Murali, Charudutt Mishra, Kulbhushansingh R Suryawanshi
Environmental Conservation, 2022
Climate change: the missing discourse in the Indian Parliament
Seema Mundoli, Zubin Jacob, Ranjini Murali, Harini Nagendra
Environmental Research Climate, 2022
Indigenous governance structures for maintaining an ecosystem service in an agro-pastoral community in the Indian Trans Himalaya
Ranjini Murali, Ajay Bijoor, Tanzin Thinley, Kalzang Gurmet, Kesang Chunit, Rinchen Tobge, Tanzin Thuktan, Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi, Harini Nagendra, Charudutt Mishra
Ecosystems and People, 2022
Engaging at the science-policy interface as an early-career researcher: experiences and perceptions in biodiversity and ecosystem services research
Anna Filyushkina, Hyeonju Ryu, Andrew N. Kadykalo, Ranjini Murali, C. Sylvie Campagne, Carla-Leanne Washbourne, Sophie Peter, Nada Saidi, Thuan Sarzynski, Paola Fontanella Pisa, Giovanni Ávila-Flores, Taha Amiar
Ecosystems and People, 2022
Community-based conservation for the sustainable management of conservation conflicts: Learning from practitioners
Juliette Claire Young, Justine Shanti Alexander, Ajay Bijoor, Deepshikha Sharma, Abhijit Dutta, Bayarjargal Agvaantseren, Tserennadmid Nadia Mijiddorj, Kubanych Jumabay, Venera Amankul, Benazir Kabaeva, Ali Nawaz, Shafiqullah Khan, Hussain Ali, Jennifer Snell Rullman, Koustubh Sharma, Ranjini Murali, Charudutt Mishra
Sustainability Switzerland, 2021
Who’s responsible for climate change? Untangling threads of media discussions in India, Nigeria, Australia, and the USA
Ranjini Murali, Aishwarya Kuwar, Harini Nagendra
Climatic Change, 2021
Gender and the commons: Water management in trans-Himalayan Spiti Valley, India
Ranjini Murali, Ajay Bijoor, Charudutt Mishra
Ecology Economy and Society, 2021
Patterns of urban foraging in Bengaluru city
Dhruthi Somesh, Rohit Rao, Ranjini Murali, Harini Nagendra
Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 2021
Ecosystem service dependence in livestock and crop-based production systems in Asia's high mountains
Ranjini Murali, Purevjav Ikhagvajav, Venera Amankul, Kubanych Jumabay, Koustubh Sharma, Yash Veer Bhatnagar, Kulbushansingh Suryawanshi, Charudutt Mishra
Journal of Arid Environments, 2020
Changing use of ecosystem services along a rural-urban continuum in the Indian Trans-Himalayas
Ranjini Murali, Kulbushansingh Suryawanshi, Stephen Redpath, Harini Nagendra, Charudutt Mishra
Ecosystem Services, 2019
The value of ecosystem services in the high altitude Spiti Valley, Indian Trans-Himalaya
Ranjini Murali, Stephen Redpath, Charudutt Mishra
Ecosystem Services, 2017
Livestock Husbandry and Snow Leopard Conservation
Mohammad, Ghulam, Mostafawi, Sayed Naqibullah, Dadul, Jigmet, Rosen, Tatjana, Mishra, Charudutt, et al.
Snow Leopards Biodiversity of the World Conservation from Genes to Landscapes, 2016

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