International policy trends are always transformed and translated to fit the political and administrative systems in which they are introduced. An international trend of decentralization has resulted in conservation management systems in Sweden and Norway that differ, both in the choice of institutional solution and in the scope of change. This is surprising, as conservation management in the two countries was originally very similar. Nature conservation was managed through hierarchical systems dominated by bureaucratic experts. While Sweden has introduced co-management in a few protected areas only, Norway has devolved powers in all large conservation areas to inter-municipal management boards. Through document studies, we investigate how decentralization interacts with the broader systems of political actors and institutions pf which nature conservation is a part.
We examined community perceptions of preferred objectives for wild reindeer management in Southern Norway as the former population-based model is being replaced with an area-based, multi-level regional management model spanning large mountain regions. Communally oriented objectives are favoured over economic benefits to landowners. Environmental attitudes discriminate on many of the issues and can be useful factors in sorting out levels of support for proposed management actions and compromises in land use decisions. The regional reindeer plans create a new political context for land use management across large mountain areas which will require better cooperation among municipalities.
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