The value of regeneration

Abstract Millions of hectares of rangelands have been subject to degeneration through overgrazing, agricultural expansion, urbanisation and afforestation. Countering this, regeneration is a natural process whereby rangeland ecosystems revive themselves. This understanding of regeneration has mostly been missed in definitions of regenerative ranching, which reduce it to a food production approach requiring some combination of practices and/or outcomes. In this article, we present a fresh framing and demonstrate how regeneration can be held as a broad value amongst ranchers—guiding the way they interact with and attach importance to nature. Broad values are general moral principles and life goals that guide human and non‐human interactions. When regeneration is held as a broad value amongst ranchers, it means more than just valuing the natural regenerative processes of social‐ecological systems. There are four dimensions to regeneration as a broad value: (1) a desire to improve degenerated land; (2) a belief in cyclical processes of renewal; (3) a return of agency to non‐human parts of the system; (4) a belief that regeneration leads to a good and fulfilling life. Ranchers do not need to undertake practices associated with regenerative ranching to hold regeneration as a broad value, nor do they need to identify as a regenerative rancher. We suggest that regeneration has the potential to be a widely held broad value in and beyond the context of ranching. As a value, it is potentially consistent with the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's 2050 Vision for Biodiversity of living in harmony with nature. Promoting regeneration as a guiding value/principle, distinct from practices and outcomes, might help mobilise diverse groups interested in just and sustainable rangeland futures. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.