Year: 2024
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This thesis examines what barriers and opportunities exist for public participation in addressing biodiversity loss and adapting to climate change in Swedish biosphere reserves (BRs). This was approached by conducting an instrumental case study of all seven BRs in Sweden, consisting of semi-structured interviews and a case-specific literature review. The results identified that while a significant gap in integrating biodiversity protection with CCA in Swedish BRs exists, the inherent flexibility and local grounding of the BR approach represent a missed opportunity for effectively integrating these issues. Moreover, public participation in Swedish BRs is shaped by a participation design consisting of three key components, namely interest representation, participation opportunities, and degree of influence. These components aim to achieve certain objectives and are enabled or disabled by ambiguous barriers and opportunities. Five such ambiguous barriers and opportunities were identified: awareness and understanding, resource availability, willingness to participate, conflicting interests, and the political context. This paper recommends practitioners to clearly define public participation, its goals for BRs, and enhance collaboration between them and municipalities to better integrate biodiversity conservation with CCA efforts. This thesis not only fills a scholarly gap but also offers a scaffold for enhancing the role and understanding of public participation in the context of Swedish BRs.
Authors: Fink, Franziska, Nilsson, Frida
Institution: Lund University
Language: English
Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6980183082