AUTHOR
Rådelius, Christina

DATE
2002-11-13

DEPARTMENT
Business Administration and Social Sciences / Political Science, History and Geographic

SUMMARY
Because of its importance for indigenous biodiversity and the local Sami culture, the Laponian area, in the north of Sweden, was declared a World Heritage Site Area by the UN organization UNESCO in 1996. Most of the area is protected because it encompasses national parks and nature reserves and is state owned, and, thus, managed by the County Administrative Board. Local stakeholders who want to participate and influence both the policy-making process as well as management activities have recently questioned this top- down arrangement. The issue is complex with stakeholders on different levels, overlapping jurisdictions and pending questions of indigenous rights. In this thesis, different problems are identified that have to be solved in order to promote and maintain a sustainable development of Laponia. The thesis aims to analyze if the adoption of multi-stakeholder co- management of Laponia is a possible solution to above-mentioned problems. A key question is how to understand the concept of co-management in this specific issue. Yet another question is, if and how, decision-making can be delegated to a local management organization. With the basis in common-pool resource theory, it is discussed whether or not, self-organization and self- governance of the area is a probable solution. It is concluded that one way of dealing with this problematic issue could be to create a co-management system for the Laponian area.

ISSN 1402-1757 / ISRN LTU-LIC--02/57--SE / NR 2002:57