Nordic political ecologies

Abstract

The purpose of this special issue is to demonstrate the relevance of political ecology for the study of Nordic environmental governance. As political ecology has gained a leading position in international environmental geography, Nordic geographers have increasingly been attracted to this approach. Although many have carried out political ecology research in the Global South, there has been little Nordic political ecology research at 'home'. The contributions to this special issue demonstrate that the themes emerging in Nordic political ecology are familiar from research in developing countries, whether discussing tensions between rural or indigenous people and the state, contested environmental knowledge and how the state relates to such contestations, or prevailing discourses of sustainable land use. The Nordic context also represents a unique potential for political ecology scholarship, for at least two reasons. First, the Nordic landscape tradition suggests a potentially useful bridge between political ecology and land change science. Second, the emergence of the Arctic as a resource frontier and a geopolitical target area represents a potential comparative advantage of Nordic political ecology. This frontier is just as dynamic, environmentally and politically, as any other frontier of resource exploitation.

SandLife and the death of dunes: political ecology discourses from conservation to restoration in Haverdal, Sweden

“…The rationales underpinning ideologies, practices and discourses are described in terms of aesthetic values that are biocentric, rather than recognizing the complexity in power relations, agency and the co-construction of nature that political ecologists and others identify (eg. Benjaminsen and Robbins 2015;Benjaminsen and Svarstad 2019;Castree 2005;Castree and Braun 2001;Dahlberg 2015;Nightingale 2014;Robbins 2012;Robbins et al 2015). Nature is viewed as unstable and in acute need of protection by the urban authorities.…”

“…Political ecology as used here relates to values, practices, narratives, discourses, representations, technologies of government and orthodoxies with environmental services that are related to a specific physical, political, social and historical context (in terms of land-use practices and values) (Robbins 2012;Rose and Miller 2010;Setten 2017). Firstly, the study situates the geographical context, which has a specific planning history and tradition related to Nordic geography and environmental governance (Benjaminsen and Robbins 2015;Benjaminsen and Svarstad 2019;Olwig 2002;Qvenild 2014;Sandberg and Jacobsson 2018;Setten 2017;Widgren 2015). Secondly, it explores a European Union (EU) restoration project which reconfigured and re-politicized the ideological views on traditional DADmanagement, where some traditional features from that approach remained unchanged.…”

Land-use conflicts between reindeer husbandry and mineral extraction in Finnmark, Norway: contested rationalities and the politics of belonging

“…Biedjovággi is that imbedded in these conflicts are the actors' struggle over both resources and meanings (Benjaminsen and Robbins 2015). Turner (2004) argues that the complexity of resource-related conflicts often are overlooked.…”

“…The study displays the actors' interests and the narratives they use to legitimize these -both concerns commonly addressed in political ecology research (Benjaminsen and Svarstad 2010;Robbins 2012;Benjaminsen and Robbins 2015). Comparing two cases help contrast a diversity in both the actors' rationalities and concepts of belonging.…”

“…In order to get a better understanding of the Nussir and Biedjovággi land-use conflicts, I search beyond the here-and-now struggles of some few square-kilometre of land (Turner 2004). Inspired by political ecology, the article examines actors' struggle over resources, but also conflicting interest and values and struggles over meanings (see Benjaminsen and Robbins 2015). The key questions addressed are: 1) What is the material basis of the land-use conflicts?…”