Relational values in nature-based solutions and their role in transformative change: evidence from choice modelling

• Identifying specific values behind public support for NbS is crucial but remains largely unexplored. • We use a Discrete Choice Experiment to assess support for four NbS types and the values behind it. • Relational values explain public preferences for NbS better than instrumental or intrinsic values. • Relational values increase public support for NbS implementation, highlighting their policy relevance. • Emphasising relational values in NbS may support their alignment with transformative framing and management. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are increasingly promoted as human actions that harness nature’s properties and functions to deliver multiple benefits to people and nature. In this way, they are championed as an approach to help achieve sustainable development. This framing has garnered broad attention and support. However, the specific values that underpin public support for NbS remain underexplored, even though understanding them is essential for assessing the policy legitimacy of NbS, clarifying their conceptual foundations, and evaluating their transformative potential. We use environmental valuation to understand public support for funding four types of NbS—two land-based: 1. Living seawall and 2. Constructed wetland, and two water-based: 3. Coral gardening and 4. Seaweed biofilter—projects in Queensland, Australia, and to examine the underlying values that shape this support. Mixed Logit models indicate that households are willing to pay approximately AU$75–150 per year for implementing these solutions, with no substantial differences in preferences across the four types. Crucially, model interactions with attitudinal variables reveal that relational values are stronger predictors of support than instrumental or intrinsic values. This strong association between NbS and relational values may offer an opportunity to increase public acceptance of NbS and, more broadly, to support societal transformation in a nature-positive direction through longer-term initiatives that seek to reframe the relationship between people and nature.