Public Perception of Wilderness in Iceland

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a gradually growing emphasis on the protection of wilderness in Iceland. This is highlighted in the current preparation of a new national park in the Icelandic central highlands, which will become Europe’s largest national parks. However, in order to protect the wilderness, a mutual understanding, both on what it is and where it is, is needed. This paper seeks to evaluate Icelanders’ perception and understanding of wilderness. Furthermore, to assess the value of wilderness for the Icelandic public and determine what lies behind the valuation, an online survey aided by maps from Google Earth and photographic scenarios of different landscapes was sent out to a nationally representative sample of Icelanders. The survey respondents mapped their perceived scope of Icelandic wilderness and furthermore chose between several landscape scenarios they thought most and least suited to their perception of wilderness. The results show that nearly all land located above the 300 m elevation line is perceived as wilderness, reflecting the country’s uninhabited highlands areas. The results also show that for the general public in Iceland it is chiefly an open and vast landscape, uninhabited areas, and the absence of anthropogenic features that bestow an area with the status of wilderness. The results demonstrate that any sign of anthropogenic interference, aside from archaeological remains, decrease Icelanders’ perception of wilderness. Moreover, despite being mostly categorized as urbanists or neutralists according to the purism scale, the majority of Icelanders still consider services, such as petrol stations, hotels, shops, restaurants, and diverse leisure services, along with energy production, to negatively impact the value of wilderness. Most Icelanders thus seem to regard wilderness as a valuable asset from the economic, cultural, and environmental perspectives, which underscores its uniqueness.

Tourism, Recreation and Wilderness: Public Perceptions of Conservation and Access in the Central Highland of Iceland

“…While it is common knowledge that access restrictions in protected areas can lead to conflicts, this study underlines that access provision (e.g., through road improvements) also has the potential for triggering substantial land-use conflicts, as it would enable further development of the area, at the expense of its wilderness qualities. This highlights the importance of remoteness for domestic outdoor recreation in the CH, further supporting the public perception of the area as wilderness [67]. As such, current road conditions in the area constitute a barrier to further development and are therefore crucial in preserving its natural and cultural features.…”

“…Other tracks and winter traffic usually require specifically modified vehicles-so-called "super-jeeps". Due to such remoteness and lack of visible anthropogenic signatures, as well as the free play of natural processes [56], the area is often associated with wilderness, both among the Icelandic public [67] and foreign visitors [11,40,68,69]. However, some roads in the area have been "upbuilt" (i.e., raised above ground), limiting puddle formation and snow accumulation, and either maintained as gravel roads or paved, enabling, in both cases, a much broader range of vehicles to access the CH.…”

“…If established, it will cover around 30% of Iceland's total land area, making it the largest national park in Europe. Due to the fact that access to the area has historically been limited and the existing roads are primitive, large areas are still very remote and therefore have a high wilderness value [67]. In recent decades, however, the demand for the utilization of the CH has been gradually increasing, primarily due to tourism, outdoor recreation, and energy utilization, with associated conflicts of interest.…”

The Role of Public Participation for Determining Sustainability Indicators for Arctic Tourism

“…The Arctic possesses unique natural resources, such as distinctive ecosystems, geosites, relatively untouched nature, and wilderness, which during the past decades have been attracting a growing number of tourists [73][74][75]. Increasingly, the tourism industry has made use of these natural resources, and in the most popular destinations, the tourism industry is gradually altering the destinations by building infrastructure to accommodate more tourists, e.g., improved access, parking spaces, walking paths, lavatories, souvenir stores, restaurants, and accommodation.…”

Mapping Landscape Perception: An Assessment with Public Participation Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Analysis Techniques

“…Landscape perception is a common issue in landscape assessment and plays a key role in the approach to and definition of landscapes [1,2]. How a landscape is perceived relates to aesthetic judgment, a sense of place, identity, recreation, the familiarity of the setting, attractiveness, and a wide range of ecosystem services (e.g., [3][4][5][6]). Hence, landscape perception is crucial with regard to aesthetic preferences, well-being, landscape character assessment, tourism, travel motivation, planning, and regional development [7][8][9][10][11].…”