Access, Tourism and Democracy: A Conceptual Framework and the Non‐establishment of a Proposed National Park in Sweden

Abstract

Tourism, conservation, national parks and the interrelationship with regional development are important aspects of the high mountain region in the North of Sweden. Here, during the latter part of the 1980s there was a debate concerning the possibility of establishing a large national park in the area around Lake Torneträsk. Even though various interested parties were represented in the working group, there was such a clash of interests that the plan was shelved for an indefinite period. The main obstacle was the resistance from local groups, principally in the township of Kiruna close by, who were afraid that their use of the area would be curtailed due to restrictions on such outdoor activities as fishing, hunting and the use of snowmobiles. This case is analysed in a conceptual framework of different “ecostrategies” for attitudes and behaviour with regard to landscape and the man‐nature interrelationship. The framework is constituted as a four‐field figure with the help of one axis illustrating the tension between “functional specialization” vs. “territorial adaptation” as point of departure for landscape perspectives. The other axis illustrates the tension between the strategies of “active” use vs. “passive” contemplation of the landscape.