CFP: World Biodiversity Forum

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Papers (presentations) for the Thematic Session: Philosophies of Biodiversity Conservation

This session will be part of the World Biodiversity Forum taking place from June 14 – 19, 2026, in Davos (Switzerland) as an in-person event. 

We welcome contributions that discuss biodiversity conservation from the perspective of philosophy: ethics, aesthetics, the philosophy of science, and political theory. Particularly welcome are papers on WBF general theme “leading transformation together”. Other topics include but are not limited to: 

• The philosophy of valuing and protecting biodiversity; 

• Justice in and politics of biodiversity conservation, e.g. ownership of genetic resources, 

democracy and biodiversity, data issues, bio/ecosecurity; 

• Ethical analysis of different conservation techniques and strategies (e.g. de-extinction, 

natural vs. artificial biodiversity conservation, assisted migration, restoration); 

• Analysis (and critique) of the ‘biodiversity’ and/or related conservation concepts;  

We are open to presentations from all philosophical positions and traditions. The WBF conference attracts audience interested in different aspects of biodiversity conservation. Therefore, we emphasise that presentations should address an interdisciplinary audience. Interested presenters will also have the opportunity to share their draft papers with other session participants before the conference to in-depth exchange.

Application:

Please note that WBF organizer board (not us) has decided to introduce an abstract submission fee of 50 euros, applied regardless of whether the abstract is accepted or not. If you want us to have a quick pre-screening of your abstract to determine whether it basically fits the scope and aims of the philosophy sessions, please submit it to [email protected] (but please note that this is just pre-screening, not positive decision, which will depend on the overall number, contents, and quality of abstracts submitted to the session). Deadline for sending us your submission for optional pre-screening November 01, 2025.

Please submit a 300 to 350 words abstract of your presentation in the official abstract submission system. Guidelines for this and the link to the system can be found at https://worldbiodiversityforum.org/call-for-abstracts/ - please indicate session ‘Philosophies of Biodiversity Conservation’ (TRA4) in the submission.

The submission deadline is November 18, 2025. 

This thematic session is organised by Teea Kortetmäki (University of Jyväskylä); Giovanni Frigo (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology); Damien Delorme (University of Lausanne); and Anna Wienhues (University of Leuven).