Attitudes toward Wind Power in Norway-Solution or Problem in Renewable Energy Development?

Wind power has become an increasingly important source of renewable energy in Norway. Current demand and production capacity have exceeded expectations stipulated in energy policies a few years back. Wind power affects landscape characteristics, and the rapid development has created considerable public conflict. However, knowledge to date about public attitudes toward wind power development in Norway is limited. We surveyed a representative sample of the Norwegian public to examine relationships between wind power development and place attachment, localization, and policies. We also examined if attitudes toward wind power are linked to broader environmental attitudes and meaning of place. Public attitudes range from strong support to strong opposition. We found limited support for NIMBY effects. Support versus opposition correlates with attitudes toward place attachment, localization of wind power plants and energy policies. We found evidence of a dichotomy between the more fundamental world views of eco-modernism versus de-growth influencing the more specific wind power attitudes. We argue that policy institutions have underestimated the power of attitude diversity in the wind power debate, and that social acceptability of future wind power development will depend on improved understanding of how social values of landscapes are impacted.

Societal implications of a changing Arctic Ocean.

The Arctic Ocean is undergoing rapid change: sea ice is being lost, waters are warming, coastlines are eroding, species are moving into new areas, and more. This paper explores the many ways that a changing Arctic Ocean affects societies in the Arctic and around the world. In the Arctic, Indigenous Peoples are again seeing their food security threatened and cultural continuity in danger of disruption. Resource development is increasing as is interest in tourism and possibilities for trans-Arctic maritime trade, creating new opportunities and also new stresses. Beyond the Arctic, changes in sea ice affect mid-latitude weather, and Arctic economic opportunities may re-shape commodities and transportation markets. Rising interest in the Arctic is also raising geopolitical tensions about the region. What happens next depends in large part on the choices made within and beyond the Arctic concerning global climate change and industrial policies and Arctic ecosystems and cultures.

Geo-spatial aspects of acceptance of illegal hunting of large carnivores in Scandinavia.

Human-carnivore conflicts are complex and are influenced by: the spatial distribution of the conflict species; the organisation and intensity of management measures such as zoning; historical experience with wildlife; land use patterns; and local cultural traditions. We have used a geographically stratified sampling of social values and attitudes to provide a novel perspective to the human - wildlife conflict. We have focused on acceptance by and disagreements between residents (measured as Potential Conflict Index; PCI) towards illegal hunting of four species of large carnivores (bear, lynx, wolf, wolverine). The study is based on surveys of residents in every municipality in Sweden and Norway who were asked their opinion on illegal hunting. Our results show how certain social values are associated with acceptance of poaching, and how these values differ geographically independent of carnivore abundance. Our approach differs from traditional survey designs, which are often biased towards urban areas. Although these traditional designs intend to be representative of a region (i.e. a random sample from a country), they tend to receive relatively few respondents from rural areas that experience the majority of conflict with carnivores. Acceptance of poaching differed significantly between Norway (12.7-15.7% of respondents) and Sweden (3.3-4.1% of respondents). We found the highest acceptance of illegal hunting in rural areas with free-ranging sheep and strong hunting traditions. Disagreements between residents (as measured by PCI) were highest in areas with intermediate population density. There was no correlation between carnivore density and either acceptance of illegal hunting or PCI. A strong positive correlation between acceptance of illegal hunting and PCI showed that areas with high acceptance of illegal hunting are areas with high potential conflict between people. Our results show that spatially-stratified surveys are required to reveal the large scale patterns in social dynamics of human-wildlife conflicts.