Natural Resources Institute
Professor Valerie Nelson

Professor Valerie Nelson
BA Hons., MSc, PhD

Professor of Sustainability and Political Ecology

Livelihoods and Institutions Department

+44 (0)1634 88 3156

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Valerie Nelson, Professor in Sustainability and Political Ecology, currently leads the Political Ecology, Culture and Arts Research Group. She has a first degree in Social Anthropology (University of Cambridge), an MSc in Rural Resources and Environmental Policy (Wye College, University of London) and a PhD in Global Supply Chain Sustainability Initiatives: Impacts, Governance, Systemic Constraints and Regenerative Alternatives’ (University of Greenwich).

She has worked in international development and environmental sustainability since 1992, initially conducting research in Belize on community engagement in forest planning and management, conducting field research with Mayan and migrant communities, followed by research at an agricultural research institute of the University of the State of Mexico. The latter involved research with Mazahua Indigenous Peoples in the central highlands of Mexico. Following a 6-month stint in Bavaria supporting partnership development between European, Latin American and Asian protected areas for the European Federation of Nature and National Parks, she joined Oxfam GB's policy department, working on the South-South Environment Learning Programme. Valerie joined NRI in 1996 and has since conducted social and transdisciplinary research on food and agriculture, especially agroecology, land rights and rural development, conservation, political ecology and environmental sustainability in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the UK.

Valerie has led significant research projects and conducted action research in the following areas: Participatory rural development, including pioneering of participatory video in 1998 in Malawi and many years of experience in developing and facilitating diverse transdisciplinary, action research and social learning processes;  Sustainable livelihoods and the socio-ecological and socio-nature dimensions of agriculture, food and environment; Gender, intersectionality and climate change adaptation; Smallholder agricultural adaptation and climate change resilience; Governance and politics of sustainability in global value chains; Critical analysis of fair trade, sustainability standards, global value chains and responsible business; Land rights and governance; Agroecology and alternative food networks; post-growth economies.

She currently co-leads the NRI Political Ecology, Culture and Arts Research Group which has the following research themes: relationality, the more-than-human, socionatures and biodiversity; politics and meanings of food and farming; ecojustice, power and land; transformative change, social movements and sustainability futures; post-growth economies and commoning; environmental intersectionalities and ethics of care. She is working increasingly with arts-based methods including Photovoice, and exploring imaginaries and speculative futures.

Valerie is an expert for the Inter-Governmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) acting as a contributing author for the 2022 Values Assessment, the 2022 Scoping Study on Business and Biodiversity, and is currently a lead author for the Transformative Change Assessment. She also supports its Indigenous Knowledge and Local Knowledge dialogues. She is also currently a lead author for the UNEP Global Environmental Outlook GEO-7 State of the Environment report and is a taskforce member for the UNPE GEO 7 Indigenous Knowledge and Local Knowledge Taskforce.

She sat on the Scottish Government’s advisory panel for their environment strategy (2023) and has recently conducted a study for them on transformative change and sustainability to inform their Environment Strategy. She is also part of Natural England’s nature futures advisory group. She is a member of the friends of the International Land Coalition (ILC). Earlier, Valerie sat on the UK and Ireland’s Development Studies Association Council for 6 years and co-led their climate and development study group, and regularly runs DSA panels at their conferences.

She is also an evaluation and learning specialist, leading multiple complex evaluations and research studies, including multi-country studies. High level consultancies have been undertaken for, amongst others, International Land Coalition, UNDP, EC, Irish Aid, FCDO, the Dutch Government, ISEAL, ILO, BEIS, Defra, Welthungerhilfe, Fair Trade Advocacy Office, Fairtrade International, Fairtrade Foundation, Rainforest Alliance, Oxfam, CGIAR etc.

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Valerie has contributed to the establishment of new research fields, most notably gender and climate change beginning in the early 1990s and subsequently, and the impact, governance and power relations in agro-food systems, including critical analysis of hybrid governance and its limitations and governmentality, such as reform-oriented approaches (e.g. corporate codes, sustainability standards, due diligence, sector transformation). She has explored alternative food networks and agroecology movements and practices and developed new participatory, action research and transdisciplinary methodologies, e.g. pioneering participatory video in Malawi (1996-98), farmer and stakeholder climate future learning journeys in Tanzania (2010s), farmer field school evaluation in Malawi and transdisciplinary multi-stakeholder and civic engagement in learning cycles.

Valerie currently leads the Political Ecology, Culture and Arts (PEAC) Research Group at the NRI (ADD URL), which has the following research themes:

  • Relationality and sustainability
  • The more-than-human, socionatures and biodiversity
  • Politics and meanings of food and farming
  • Ecojustice, power and land
  • Transformative change, social movements and sustainability futures.
  • Post-growth economies and communing.
  • Environmental intersectionalities and ethics of care.

Her current work focuses upon the following: relational philosophies and sustainability; critical analysis and action research on imaginaries, socionatures and human-nature relations; colonial modernities, pluriversal conviviality and transformative change; biodiversity and equity in telecoupled agrofood system contexts; Indigenous land rights and futures; arts-based methods and speculative futuring.

Valerie is currently teaching on the NRI Masters on Sustainable Development, leading a module on Regenerative economies, politics and societies. She is supervising several PhD students on subjects involving relational and political ecology themes, including astro-scholarship, rights of nature, More-Than-Human relations and deer, soil relationality and care ethics, and tropical futurism and imaginaries in commodity frontiers.

Transformative Change in telecoupled agrofood systems for biodiversity and equity (EU Horizon, 2023-26)

Partnering with Wageningen University, Netherlands, University of the Andes, Colombia, University of Dschang, Cameroon, the University of Kabianga, Kenya, IDDRI and CIRAD, France, and Hanken University, Finland. The project explores transformative pathways in agro-food systems, moving beyond reform-oriented market-based mechanisms to explore more radical regenerative alternatives. Includes research on rural imaginaries, the more-than-human, emotional ecologies, and issues of biodiversity, equity and justice, within landscapes linked to EU consumption and biodiversity, analysis of transformative change pathways, leverage points and levers e.g. rights of nature, social movements, collective action and commoning for transformative change, as well as facilitating social learning cycles at landscape, national, EU and global scales.

Food and Nature Futures in Medway (2023-24).

Funded by the Regional Innovation Fund, exploring food and nature futures in Medway, Kent, though innovative arts-based approaches, social learning processes and surveys

Social learning for people-centred land governance

Social learning for LandCollaborative, a Global Community of Practice involving social learning cycles and co-production of learning outputs for the LandCollaborative (International Land Coalition, Mekong Delta Rural Land Governance Programme and WeltHunger Hilfe (WHH) LandforLife programme). The project involved working with 27 organisations in 13 national civil society platforms working on land rights and governance.

Critical analysis and assessment of fair trade and sustainability market-based mechanisms and responsible business approaches.

Multiple studies on fair and ethical trade schemes, sustainability standards and certification impacts, social impacts of corporate codes of practice, sector transformation and sustainable landscape approaches, responsible business and ethical trade schemes, trade and global value chains social and economic upgrading innovations, and sustainable finance for diverse donors and research councils (FCDO, ILO, Fairtrade International, Fairtrade Foundation, Max Havelaar, ISEAL, Better Cotton Initiative, Rainforest Alliance, Dutch government). This work led the way asking questions about the effectiveness, impact, politics and governance of private standards and alternative, solidarity trade schemes and initiatives. It generated extensive evidence on impacts, research on the politics and ethics of value chain sustainability governance, and highlighted the inherent limitations and problems associated with market-based mechanisms for sustainability and transformative change. Recent studies on human rights, environmental due diligence and rights of nature.

Politics and governance implications of private standards initiatives in Kenyan agri-food chains (2008-2011)

With the Universities of Leeds and Nairobi (ESRC-DFID). This research explored actor struggles over value chain sustainability governance and the emerging role of private actors in shaping narratives and practices. Looking beyond the vertical, the research explored the embedded nature of global value chains and the power inequalities infused in such agrofood chains, the contingent nature of smallholder and worker agency and participation, and the governmentality of sustainability standards and codes. The control-oriented nature of ethical governance was identified as well as areas of resistance and alternative economy narratives.

Transdisciplinarity and participatory learning approaches in sustainable agriculture and agroecology

Over several decades including pioneering work on participatory video to support community enquiry, communication and advocacy on livelihoods and the environment in Malawi (1996-98, DFID funded), Farms of the Future project involving facilitation of farmer and agriculture stakeholder learning journeys on climate adaptation in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Tanzania (CCAFS, 2011-13), National Learning Alliances using multi-stakeholder social learning cycles on sustainable agriculture in Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Ghana and Ethiopia (DFID SAIRLA programme), and participatory farming learning including video documentation in evaluative learning on FAO Strengthening Climate Resilience Programme (EC Global Climate Change Alliance, Malawi, 2015-19). Recent study for Agrinatura on Agroecology and Value Chains with FIBL.

  • Lachlan Kenneally: PhD on ‘Relational and political ecology perspectives on urban food and commoning in Bristol’.
  • Riley Hickman: PhD on ‘Soil(ed) Relations: Synergies and Struggles in Soil Relations and Politics’ in collaboration with Simon Wilcox, Rothamstead.
  • Niall Readfern: PhD on ‘Niall Readfern, PhD on Power and Perspective: Investigating interactions between telecoupled agrofood systems and plural landscape meanings in biodiversity rich forest landscapes in Kenya.’

  • Leader of the Political Ecology, Culture and Arts Research Group.

  • Defra Nature Futures Framework Advisory Group (23-24). Valerie Nelson.
  • United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) GEO 7 Lead Author (2023 – 26), Chapter on Impacts, focusing on Sustainable Development Goals, Representative in the Indigenous and Local Knowledge Taskforce. Valerie Nelson
  • Global advisory group of the International Land Coalition. NRI co-representative in ILC global advisory group, (2021 – ongoing). Valerie Nelson.
  • IPBES ‘Transformative Change Assessment of Inter-Governmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’ (IPBES) (2022-24). Lead author in Chapter 4. ILK dialogue author representative. Valerie Nelson.
  • Inter-Governmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services – Scoping Study on Business and Biodiversity. ILK dialogue author representative. Valerie Nelson
  • IPBES ‘Methodological Assessment on incorporating multiple values of nature and nature’s contributions to people for just and sustainable futures.’ Chapter 5. Inter-Governmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services – Contributing Author. Valerie Nelson
  • Council Member, UK and Ireland Development Studies Association (6 years)
  • Global Award (IDEAS) Transformative Change Evaluation
  • Co-track chair International Sustainable Development Research Society (ISDRS) on value chains and sustainability.