"It's All About the Scenery" Kaltenborn, Bjørn P.; Kaltenborn, Eivind F.; Linnell, John D.C.
Arctic,
03/2019, Volume:
72, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The Lofoten Islands in northern Norway face challenges from increasing visitor numbers, congestion, environmental impacts, and growing host-visitor tensions. Benefits include increased local ...employment and growing revenues. Future tourism policy requires better documentation of the non-economic benefits and values associated with tourism in Lofoten; this information is important to the development of policy and management processes. We conducted 45 in-depth interviews with domestic and international visitors, using the cultural ecosystem services (ES) framework to ascertain the core elements of the tourism experience, as well as views on management needs and development. We probed reflections on place, aesthetics, recreational opportunities, inspiration, social relations, cultural heritage, knowledge, spirituality, and identity by offering a combination of statements and questions. All these categories of cultural ES were important to most visitors. However, the importance of the landscape was paramount. Policy implications include the need to include landscape in ES assessments, to map places of especially high scenic value, and to use the ES framework more extensively to identify and compare non-economic and economic tourism values and benefits.
Dans le nord de la Norvège, il y a des défis à relever aux îles Lofoten en raison du nombre croissant de visiteurs, de la congestion, des incidences sur l'environnement et des tensions de plus en plus grandes entre les visiteurs et les gens de la région. Parmi les avantages, notons le nombre d'emplois et les revenus à la hausse. À l'avenir, il faudra une meilleure documentation au sujet des retombées et des valeurs non économiques liées au tourisme à Lofoten en vue de faciliter la formulation des politiques touristiques. Cette information jouera un rôle important dans l'élaboration des politiques et des processus de gestion. Nous avons réalisé 45 entrevues approfondies auprès de visiteurs du pays et d'ailleurs en nous appuyant sur le cadre de référence des services écosystémiques (SE) culturels afin de valider les éléments fondamentaux de l'expérience touristique et recueilli des points de vue en matière de développement et de besoins en gestion. Au moyen de déclarations et de questions, nous avons stimulé des réflexions au sujet des lieux, de l'esthétique, des possibilités de loisirs, de l'inspiration, des relations sociales, du patrimoine culturel, des connaissances, de la spiritualité et de l'identité. Toutes ces catégories des SE culturels revêtaient de l'importance aux yeux de la plupart des visiteurs. Cependant, c'est le paysage qui a pris le plus d'importance. Parmi les incidences sur les politiques, notons la nécessité de tenir compte du paysage dans les évaluations des SE, de mettre en évidence les lieux qui ont une valeur panoramique particulièrement grande et de se servir du cadre des SE à plus grande échelle afin de déterminer et de comparer les retombées et les valeurs économiques et non économiques sur le plan touristique.
The Arctic Ocean is undergoing rapid change: sea ice is being lost, waters are warming, coastlines are eroding, species are moving into new areas, and more. This paper explores the many ways that a ...changing Arctic Ocean affects societies in the Arctic and around the world. In the Arctic, Indigenous Peoples are again seeing their food security threatened and cultural continuity in danger of disruption. Resource development is increasing as is interest in tourism and possibilities for trans-Arctic maritime trade, creating new opportunities and also new stresses. Beyond the Arctic, changes in sea ice affect mid-latitude weather, and Arctic economic opportunities may re-shape commodities and transportation markets. Rising interest in the Arctic is also raising geopolitical tensions about the region. What happens next depends in large part on the choices made within and beyond the Arctic concerning global climate change and industrial policies and Arctic ecosystems and cultures.
Illegal killings account for approximately one half of the total mortality of wolves in Scandinavia between 1999 and 2009. Through this period, the wolf population increased to roughly 260 ...individuals with an annual growth rate of 13.5 % as opposed to the potential of 29.5 %. Barring other interventions, if no poaching had occurred, the projections indicate that the population could have reached almost 1000 animals. During the same decade, attitudes in the public toward wolves have remained stable and positive. In a socio-ecological perspective, the potentially high wolf population growth rate can easily outpace the much slower social dynamics of evolving public attitudes toward wolves. We surveyed a representative sample of the Norwegian public and people living inside the designated wolf zone to ascertain whether reducing wolf population growth rates through poaching may unintentionally have contributed to allowing the public opinion to adjust to the renewed presence of wolves and maintain a high level of acceptance. Findings partly support this hypothesis but also that the greater majority of the public oppose illegal hunting. The results suggest complex links between preferences for wolf population sizes, acceptance for poaching, and beliefs about consequences of illegal hunting. We argue that attitudes are unstable and sensitive to how conflicts develop and are resolved. Scandinavian wolf populations now border on genetic unsustainability. Current policy with extremely low population goals leave minimal room for experimentation. Paradoxically, the only way to maintain positive public attitudes and reduce poaching may be to increase population sizes and simultaneously increase legal hunting quotas.
Norway is home to the last remaining populations of wild mountain reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Europe. Concerns over anthropogenic and natural drivers have led to change in the management ...regime from a population-based model to an area-based model. More complex management goals, increasing involvement of stakeholders, and larger management units call for improved knowledge about reindeer-related values. We examined the responses of 1000 respondents to 39 statements of attitudes and values associated with wild reindeer presence and the management situation in two reindeer regions of southern Norway. We used a partial least-squares path modeling approach to examine the nexus between the attraction of wild reindeer, sustainability concerns, utilitarian and non-utilitarian values, conflicts, and attitudes toward hunting. The results show that local concepts of the sustainability of reindeer are based on opinions about the ecological requirements as well as the roles reindeer can play in the social and economic development of the communities. The attraction of reindeer is a function of consumptive as well as non-consumptive objectives. Segments of the community with different consumptive orientations can share ideas about the attraction of reindeer, but diverge in their interpretation of the sustainability of the species. Improved knowledge about the diversity and complexity of value orientations associated with wild reindeer can be a useful tool for developing multi-objective management frameworks with a diversity of stakeholders who may share similar values and interests, although they have different experience and knowledge bases. Les toutes dernières populations de rennes sauvages des montagnes (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) de l'Europe se trouvent en Norvège. Des préoccupations sur le plan des motifs anthropiques et des motifs naturels ont donné lieu à la modification du régime de gestion, qui est passé d'un modèle axé sur la population à un modèle axé sur la région. En raison des objectifs de gestion plus complexes, de l'influence accrue des parties prenantes et de secteurs de gestion plus grands, il y a lieu de se doter de meilleures connaissances au sujet des valeurs liées aux rennes. Nous avons examiné les réponses de 1 000 répondants à 39 énoncés relatifs aux attitudes et aux valeurs liées à la présence des rennes sauvages et à la situation de la gestion dans deux régions où évoluent les rennes, dans le sud de la Norvège. Nous avons fait la modélisation du parcours au moyen de la régression partielle par les moindres carrés dans le but d'examiner la connexion entre l'attraction du renne sauvage, les inquiétudes en matière de durabilité, les valeurs utilitaires et non utilitaires, les conflits et les attitudes vis-à-vis de la chasse. Selon les résultats, les concepts locaux de la durabilité du renne reposent sur des opinions au sujet des exigences écologiques ainsi que sur les rôles que peuvent jouer les rennes dans le développement social et économique des collectivités. L'attraction du renne dépend des objectifs de consommation et des objectifs de non-consommation. Les segments de la collectivité ayant des orientations de consommation différentes peuvent partager des idées au sujet de l'attraction du renne, mais leur interprétation de la durabilité de l'espèce diverge. Il serait utile de posséder de meilleures connaissances au sujet de la diversité et de la complexité des orientations de la valeur liées au renne sauvage, car cela pourrait permettre d'élaborer des cadres de gestion à maints objectifs avec une diversité de parties prenantes susceptibles d'avoir des valeurs et des intérêts semblables, bien que leurs connaissances et leurs expériences diffèrent.
There is gradual recognition that cultural ecosystem services are critical building blocks for human well-being. Cultural and provisioning services are often intertwined, difficult to separate, and ...play salient roles in maintaining local identities. However, multiple studies assume links between cultural ecosystem services and human well-being, without quantifying relationships. We surveyed a representative sample of the population in the Lofoten archipelago in northern Norway, a region faced with great policy challenges around resource harvesting options. Our objective was to examine how public interest in management issues and attachment to place influences the appreciation of cultural ecosystem services benefits and if these benefits can act as satisfiers of well-being. Findings suggest that cultural ecosystem services provide a salient contribution to quality of life in this region, and help satisfy the needs of affection, understanding, creation, subsistence, identity, freedom, participation, protection and leisure. Cultural ecosystem services also constitute salient environmental attributes which contribute to the basic needs of being, having, doing and interacting. The importance of ecosystem services benefits for well-being increases with increasing attachment to the Lofoten environment. We argue that not only the ecosystem services benefits, but the values that emanate from the relationship between people and land should be given greater attention in land use policy.
•Cultural ecosystem services can be linked to human wellbeing and human needs.•Ecosystem services play a role in satisfying basic human needs along with other antecedents.•Place attachment positively influences valuation of how ecosystem services contribute to quality of life.•Assessments of cultural ecosystem services should be a key component of planning and policy processes.
•Adapting to climate change requires the public to accept alternative futures.•Attitudes toward climate change have basis in early life socialization.•Trust in public environmental organisations ...predicts climate change attribution.•A high level of cultural resources capital is associated with both climate change denial and acceptance.
Since climate change mitigation likely will affect most sectors of society, adapting to climate change essentially requires the public to envision and adjust to alternative futures. There is a need for more studies on the social basis for climate change asking why people hold the attitudes they do, rather than the dominant tendency to ask how to change attitudes and behavior. Research in different fields show that fundamental life values and worldviews are shaped through life and heavily influenced by early life socialization and culture, which in turn can shape attitudes toward specific phenomena like climate change. We surveyed a representative sample of the Norwegian public and examined how cultural resources and trust in environmental governance institutions are related to attitudes toward climate change. High levels of trust are associated with a tendency to perceive climate change as human caused, and low levels of trust correspond with stronger beliefs that climate change are natural phenomena. High levels of cultural resources are found among climate change deniers as well as believers, indicating that groups with different political, professional and intellectual orientations, as well as life histories, may not trust climate change science. We argue that improved knowledge about the social basis for climate change is an imperative part of futures-oriented expertise.
In both North America and Europe, deer populations are increasing and hunter participation is decreasing. This generates concern for our future ability to control deer populations. Information on ...hunter typologies can help ascertain which licensing regulations are the most useful for either deer population control or activating currently non-active hunters. We used latent class analyses to identify typologies among 1,820 active and non-active red deer hunters in Norway. We found that active hunters could be grouped into mixed visitors (77%), deer enthusiasts (13%), and solitary locals (10%) in regard to their motivation and approach to hunting and landowner acquaintances (47%), less involved locals (40%), and long-term visitors (13%) when considering access to hunting grounds. We found 2 typologies of non-active hunters: likely recruits (79%) and permanently gone (29%). Managers in areas with undesirably dense deer populations should be more flexible in the way hunting is organized and promoted to motivate a diverse group of hunters. We recommend a zone-based management plan based on key factors determining hunter participation, which in our study included location of residence, interest in trophies, willingness to pay, willingness to travel, sociality, landowner relations, and leasing agreements.
Wildlife management in contemporary society means balancing multiple demands in shared landscapes. Perhaps the greatest question facing today's policy makers and wildlife professionals is how to ...develop frameworks for coexistence between wildlife and the plethora of other land use interests. As a profession, the roots of wildlife management and conservation can be traced back to the 1600's, but most of the relevant frameworks that have shaped the management of wildlife over time have emerged after the mid-1800's and particularly since the 1960's. Here we examine the historical development of the main traits and concepts of a number of management and conservation frameworks that have all contributed to the multifaceted field of contemporary wildlife management and conservation in Europe and North America. We outline a chronology of concepts and ideologies with their underlying key ideas, values, and operational indicators, and make an assessment of the potential of each paradigm as a coexistence framework for dealing with wildlife. We tie this to a discussion of ethics and argue that the lack of unity in approaches is deeply embedded in the differences between rule-based (deontological) vs. results-based (consequentialist) or context dependent (particularist) ethics. We suggest that some of the conflicts between ideologies, value sets and frameworks can be resolved as an issue of scale and possibly zonation in shared landscapes. We also argue that approaches built on anthropocentrism, value pluralism and environmental pragmatism are most likely to succeed in complex socio-political landscapes. However, we caution against moral relativism and the belief that all types of cultural values are equally valid as a basis for contemporary wildlife management.
Northern coastal regions are facing multiple challenges from accelerating global environmental and socioeconomic changes, such as ecosystem degradation, climate change, intensified resource ...extraction, land use change and declining populations. Based on interviews with 13 farmers, fishers and aquaculture employees from coastal Nordland, northern Norway, this study demonstrates how the local stakeholders' perceptions of change and experiences of vulnerability are closely linked to their livelihood values and worldviews. What the informants consider a sustainable and meaningful way of coastal living does not coincide with national goals for sustainable, natural resource dependent development of the region. The article demonstrates the importance of attending to local values if policymakers and managers are to ensure successful local mobilisation, reduce vulnerability to ongoing and future processes of change, and ensure legitimacy and consistency in development goals of coastal zone management. Insights from this study are useful for local and regional decision makers with responsibility for natural resource policies and development efforts.
A survey on attitudes toward large carnivores was conducted in a representative sample of the Norwegian population (n = 3134). People were asked about the acceptability of carnivores living in remote ...wilderness, close to where people live, killing livestock, killing pets, or threatening humans. Large differences in acceptability appeared across the five situations. Wolves and bears were less acceptable than lynx and wolverines when observed close to where people live. Negative associations were found between acceptability and lack of personal control, economic loss, and respondents' age. Acceptability was higher among males than among females, and higher among urban than among rural residents. The results showed that general measures of attitudes alone toward large carnivores were of limited value in wildlife management. The situational and social specificity of these attitudes should be given more attention.PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
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