More Than We Can Return: Rethinking Reciprocity with a Nature That Heals Us

Abstract

Nature-based interventions (NBI) and Green Prescriptions (GRx) have renewed interest in the relationship between human well-being and ecosystems, yet their implementation often risks reproducing the utilitarian logic underlying environmental degradation. Reciprocity between humans and Nature is increasingly invoked as a promising principle for restoring individual and Planetary Health. However, while appealing, this framework risks falling into a transactional model rooted in symmetry and apparent equivalence, obscuring the complexity and nonlinear dynamics of ecosystem functioning. This work explores reciprocity within Nature-based health interventions and ecosystem services, revealing paradoxes and limitations and arguing for a shift from transactional reciprocity toward interconnectedness and relational interbeing. Such awareness is crucial when humans interact with ecosystems to benefit from their restorativeness and therapeutic potential. We discuss how high-biodiversity and ecologically vulnerable environments derive therapeutic potential from their rarity and sensitivity, making unrestricted access for tourism, recreation, or health practices ecologically untenable. We propose that NBI and GRx must integrate, alongside clinical protocols, considerations of ecosystem health, carrying capacity, nonhuman life needs, and cumulative pressures arising when therapeutic use overlaps with other human presence. Biocultural perspectives further emphasize relational embeddedness and kinship obligations, aligning with One Health and Planetary Health principles that view human well-being as inseparable from ecosystem vitality. We propose that genuine care for Nature may not require “doing more” or “faster,” but doing less and more slowly: exercising self-restraint, reducing pressure on ecosystems, renouncing control, and tempering the human ego to prioritize Nature’s evolved processes over active interventions. Ethical and operational implications include reframing conservation and ecological management around self-limitation, intergenerational justice, and recognition of nonhuman agency, fostering coexistence over compensation.