Wilder nature? The human factor in biodiversity-promoting measures

Despite four decades’ attempts to reverse the negative trend, biodiversity loss is accelerating at an unprecedented speed. The biological instruments to halt the decline are known; they include the reservation of areas to nature’s own dynamics, referred to as ‘wild nature’. However, landscape management rests on nature perceptions and governance structures shaped by historical, economic and cultural factors, too.

A wilder nature implies the acceptance of non-utility and a different aesthetic landscape expression, as well as the engagement of diverse knowledge systems.We will explore what nature perceptions are being practiced in Swedish municipalities. The development of a set of nature perception typologies for municipal landscape managers will create a knowledgebase for communication between national and local authorities, and facilitate managers’ meeting with various stakeholders.

The findings will provide insights as to how today’s landscapes are shaped by predominant nature perceptions and government structures in the past, as well as to how municipal landscape managers influence landscapes today, based on how nature perceptions are practiced and negotiated in different governance arrangements.

The two concepts, nature perception and participation, each form a continuum, along which the landscape managers are placed. A literature search launches the investigation, followed by a national survey. Finally three case-studies will refine, qualify and add to the findings.