Devolving power from the state: local initiatives for nature protection and recreation in Sweden

Abstract

Quests for devolving more power to local actors for nature protection stem from both international and national policies. Also, there is a growing recognition of the need for local governments to promote green infrastructure for citizens to recreate and learn about their environment. Starting in 2004, the Swedish government has allocated special funding towards these goals through the Local Nature Conservation Programme (LONA). Virtually all Swedish municipalities have received such funding in pursuit of facilitating wide access to nature and promoting recreational activities, including the protection of nature areas, creating pathways, information devices, and promoting these areas among new societal groups to enjoy. This study presents the results of ten years of experience with LONA. A survey with respondents from 191 municipalities and 20 county administrations, together with 20 key informant interviews, show that the programme has been a success in several respects. Not only have most municipalities created a wealth of new ways to engage local organisations and citizens in nature conservation and recreation, but they have also broadened the ways they think about how nature is important to their constituencies. Due to innovative ways to count voluntary work as local matching of funding, smaller and less resourceful municipalities have also become engaged. Still, the local needs for further initiatives are deemed considerable. State support coupled with knowledge sharing is important to show policy priority to such bottom-up initiatives.

Sanitation Upgrading as Climate Action: Lessons for Local Government from a Community Informal Settlement Project in Cape Town

“…The more this broader work in informal settlements is connected to integrative co-design processes aimed at tackling particular climate change impacts, the greater the potential will be for City-community partnerships to have sustainable positive impacts. Furthermore, if both the community and the City come together, willing to communicate without cover-up strategies or flawed stereotyping [50], there is a greater chance for the transformative potential of multi-level climate action to be realised through co-designed solutions which build on the capacity and knowledge of bottom-up initiatives [52,64].…”

“…Thus, the hindrances which are already present due to informality are compounded by a lack of adaptation to these hinderances by City officials and a lack of willingness to adopt the "new forms of learning" previously mentioned [46] (p. 3). It has been shown in literature that the solutions proposed by local governments are often technical in nature, ignoring, or even exacerbating the complex socio-political problems faced specifically in informal settlements [52,60]. This is evident in the case of the Murray upgrading project, in which a lack of understanding for-and adaptation to-the social complexities of informal settlements hindered the implementation of technical solutions and the multi-level governance of local climate action.…”

“…In fact, local government solutions which focus solely on technical aspects often serve to entrench existing inequalities due to a lack of consideration for the complex socio-institutional context within which climate action in informal settlements is embedded [8,51]. The successful implementation of a climate action such as the provision of sanitation infrastructure requires an understanding of the internal power struggles, priorities, and needs in an informal settlement, as well as the emotional overtones attached, particularly to services such as sanitation [19,52,53]. The different mentalities and lived realities of groups such as community organisations and even local government departments need to be acknowledged, as well as how these mentalities come together to politicize sanitation provisioning [10].…”

Natural Protection Environment and Utilization Countermeasures Considering Big Data

“…Eckerberg K presented the results of ten years of experience in the Nature Conservation Program (LONA). A survey of 191 municipal and 20 county administrative authorities and interviews with 20 key informants show that the program has been successful in several aspects [3]. These scientific resources are objective factors with strong life activity potential and important influence.…”

People’s Perceptions of Community Participation in Conservation of Natural Resources in Rwanda - the Case of Nyungwe National Park

“…By this, the community should be empowered to have greater knowledge, control, authority, and thereby promote equitable sharing of costs and benefits. However in some cases, higher level authorities are needed in order to re-distribute the costs of conservation, build institutions, provide funding, give recognition and support of conservation efforts, link rural and urban areas, and generate new income opportunities for rural communities, for coordination, and technical and scientific expertise (Eckerberg et al, 2015(Eckerberg et al, , 2020Wijayaratna, 2004). The shift from traditional top-down model to community conservation approach is likely to be more successful.…”