Analysing stakeholders’ perceptions of wolf, lynx and fox in a Dutch riverine area

Abstract

In the last decades, populations of large carnivores have been making a spectacular return, especially in the USA and Western Europe. These population recoveries result partially from protective legislation and reintroduction programs, but possibly also from land use changes and from large carnivores adapting to human environments. Although public support for large carnivore protection seems to be growing, some stakeholders still have a negative perception of large carnivores because of their alleged negative impacts on livestock and humans. Perceptions of large carnivores are partly determined by underlying visions of nature which differ between stakeholder groups. We therefore examined the relationship between different stakeholder groups' perceptions of nature and the presence of the fox (Vulpes vulpes), and the possible establishment of the wolf (Canis lupus) and lynx (Lynx lynx) in a Dutch riverine landscape. Stakeholder groups comprised the general public, farmers, scientists and nature conservationists. Although perceptions of large carnivores differed significantly across the stakeholder groups, public support for large carnivores was generally higher than expected. Farmers show the most negative perception, especially regarding the wolf and lynx. This is related to their vision 123Biodivers Conserv (2017) 26:1723-1743 DOI 10.1007/s10531-017-1329 of nature, which is more strongly aligned with mastery over nature compared to other stakeholder groups. Scientists, prominent adherers of stewardship of nature, appear to have the most positive perception of large carnivores. Despite these differences in visions of nature, respondents generally adhere to the stewardship of nature relationship. This could be a good starting point to find common ground when disputes arise over large carnivores.

Thinking About Nature in the East: An Empirical Investigation of Visions of Nature in Vietnam

“…Even the slight deviations from the evenness that we found in Vietnam appear to be replicated by research in the West. There, too, mainstream farmers reject the Mastery image to a lesser degree than the rest of the population, as found by Van Heel et al (2017). In our study and in the West, too, the young and educated appear to be somewhat more nature-friendly than the average response (Van den Born et al, Fig.…”

“…Contrary to the idea that the ''East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,'' these results show remarkable similarities to Visions-of-nature findings in Europe, for example the Netherlands (De Groot & Van den Born, 2003;Van den Born, 2008;Van Heel et al, 2017), Poland (Hunka et al, 2009), Scotland (Fischer & Young, 2007), and Switzerland (Bauer, Wallner, & Hunziker, 2009). In the remainder of this section, we will substantiate this phenomenon and discuss a possible methodological reason for why the similarities emerged.…”

“…Using mixed quantitative and qualitative methods, De Groot and Van den Born (2003) and Van den Born (2006 confirmed these insights. Later, images of the people-nature relationship were also connected to river and nature management (Ganzevoort & Van den Born, 2018;Van Heel, Boerboom, Fliervoet, Lenders, & Van den Born, 2017).…”

Do Pre-service Teachers Dance with Wolves? Subject-Specific Teacher Professional Development in A Recent Biodiversity Conservation Issue

“…The main conflict arises due to the economic damage experienced by livestock owners, which is a major cause for the rejection of wild wolves in affected areas [6]. In Lower Saxony, a federal state in the northwest of Germany, the issue of returning wolves is particularly controversial [7,8].…”

Meten van het draagvlak voor de aanwezigheid en het beheer van everzwijnen in Vlaanderen: Deelrapport 1: Bevraging van de belanghebbendenorganisaties

“…Dat maakt het moeilijker om te begrijpen hoe mensen tegenover de terugkeer, het beleid en het beheer van bepaalde soorten staan. Deze kennis is van belang om te kunnen inschatten of bepaalde beleidsmaatregelen kans hebben op slagen en om een gepaste communicatie uit te kunnen bouwen (Dressel et al, 2014;van Heel et al, 2018  Het uitstippelen van een wetenschappelijk onderbouwd faunabeheer gericht op een duurzame samenleving tussen mens en dier, vereist naast ecologische kennis daarom ook inzichten in de houding van mensen ten opzichte van deze impacts.…”