PLANET4B project releases Care-full Courses platform in Europe; open-access upskilling for policymakers and civil society

Learning to Listen: Using Creative Engagement Methods to Make More Inclusive Biodiversity Decisions

The biodiversity crisis is often reduced to a technical problem, with processes, policies and guidance made by a narrow set of experts. This reductionist approach results in decisions that are divorced from the everyday realities of people’s lives, and which fail to protect the communities most affected by the consequences of the crisis. The Horizon Europe PLANET4B project (understanding P lural values, intersectionality, L everage points, A ttitudes, N orms, behaviour and social l E arning in T ransformation for B iodiversity decision making), which ran between November 2022 and October 2025, responded to this disconnect , asking what shapes our decisions on biodiversity, and how better ones might be made . This question was put to the test across 11 case studies where 16 partners worked with Learning Communities of engaged citizens and Stakeholder Boards of sectoral experts to co-develop a range of creative, participatory and behavioural methods.

Working collaboratively with communities, the PLANET4B case studies developed a suite of practical , adaptable and impactful methods. To ensure the methods lived on beyond the project, they were collected and documented in the Care-full Courses platform, a free, open access learning resource that (up)skills policymakers, NGO and civil society workers, researchers, businesses and educators. You can read more about the educators platform in this post from one of the PLANET4B partners HERE . This blog, however, focuses on the resources that equip decision makers, including policymakers, NGOs and businesses. In so doing, the courses treat education as a lifelong process, one that matters at every career stage and carries particular responsibility for those with decision making power.

The Care-full Courses platform includes 18 longer Spotlight methods, and over 25 shorter Snapshot methods, that help support informed, care-full and effective facilitation. We have chosen to highlight three below.

The Drawing in Nature Workshop

The Drawing in Nature Workshop, developed through PLANET4B’s Hungarian agrobiodiversity case study, encourages participants to slow down and take notice of biodiversity. In a biodiverse setting, such as a park, a farm or a beach, participants are first invited to draw something they feel connected to or enjoy in nature. Subsequent prompts then challenge participants to see dimensions of their environment they might otherwise overlook, such as something they dislike, or that disgusts them, something that is out of place, or something that has changed over time. These drawings provide the fodder for group discussions, where reflection opens space for participants to examine their relationship with the natural world, connect with their fellow drawers, and potentially shift long-held perspectives.

Within the Care-full Courses platform, the Drawing in Nature Workshop is shown to be accessible for both facilitators and participants. Guidance on drawing is offered, however the key to the method is the conversation the drawings help to initiate. The course also proposes workshop themes that facilitators might use in a specific context, including ecological change and climate resilience, pollinator and plant relationships, and migration and movement of animals, seeds and people across landscapes. The adaptability of the method allows facilitators to use it across a range of contexts, from an internal session where staff examine their own assumptions, to a public consultation about the future of a community space.

(The Drawing in Nature Workshop being trialled by the PLANET4B team at a consortium meeting)

PATHBREAK was developed by Martin Luther University, Halle, in collaboration with the project’s Urban Youth Learning Community in Erfurt, Germany and Culture Goes Europe, offering young people the chance to frame the governance dilemmas they will spend their lives navigating. It is a collective action game in which players work together to balance nature, agriculture, and governance. Taking on roles as farmers, policymakers, and individuals with diverse backgrounds, needs and interests, players face real-world dilemmas, protect endangered species, ensure livelihoods and food security, exercise their electoral rights and responsibilities, and navigate shifting political landscapes.

The Care-full Courses platform explains how PATHBREAK builds empathy, offers a deeper understanding of trade-offs, and makes room for disagreement. This is because the mechanics of the game are designed to encourage players to step into different roles and consider different perspectives, hold space for disagreement, and consider the multi-dimensional impact of biodiversity policies on different communities. As such, facilitators come away understanding why and when to use PATHBREAK, whether ahead of a challenging consultation process, or when decision makers cannot bring every party into the room but still need to account for their views.

(PATHBREAK being played with P LANET4B’s Urban Youth Learning Community in Germany)

Community Mapping was trialled by IFZ and Forum Urbanes Gärtnern with a Learning Community in Graz, Austria. The case study established a biodiverse, edible green space for and with women who lacked access to urban gardens because of financial, social, language and other barriers. Within the community mapping sessions, the group created a plan for an edible garden in the city of Graz, and founded an association to manage it. The group went on to reach an agreement with the city council, and to establish a permanent garden.

The Care-full Courses platform challenges facilitators to think deeply and care-fully when designing a community mapping session, especially when working with communities facing precarity, or when resources are unevenly distributed. In such situations mapping projects can cause harm, if they over promise and under deliver, leaving communities envisioning a future there is no pathway towards. Facilitators therefore need to be particularly clear about what is possible through mapping, what they are offering in a session, and what they can realistically deliver. By prompting facilitators to engage critically with the risks of a method such as community mapping, the course leaves them better able to apply it effectively in their setting, whether for developing an inclusive and comprehensive assessment of community needs, or for unearthing specific knowledge of a place and how a space is used.

(Mapping with the Learning Community in Graz, Austria)

For a more Spotlight and Snapshot methods and associated courses visit care-full-courses.com

LANET4B’s Urban Youth Learning Community in Germany)

Learning to Listen: Using Creative Engagement Methods to Make More Inclusive Biodiversity Decisions

2.1 | Education for Climate priority

develop green skills and competences

SDG (03) Good Health and Well-being

SDG (16) Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

2.4 | GreenComp: sustainability competence focus

1.1 Valuing sustainability (Embodying Sustainability Values)

1.2 Supporting fairness (Embodying Sustainability Values)

1.3 Promoting nature (Embodying Sustainability Values)

2.1 Systems thinking (Embracing Complexity in Sustainability)

2.2 Critical thinking (Embracing Complexity in Sustainability)

2.3 Problem framing (Embracing Complexity in Sustainability)

3.1 Futures literacy (Envisioning Sustainable Futures)

4.1 Political agency (Acting for Sustainability)

4.2 Collective action (Acting for Sustainability)

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