The Wild North: Network Cooperation for Sustainable Tourism in a Fragile Marine Environment in the Arctic Region

Abstract

Rapidly increasing tourist flows to the Arctic North have put focus on the sustainable development of tourism in natural environments. The Wild North project shows how different stakeholders in a network across the Arctic North deal with the need for a development of sustainable use of wildlife in a tourism context by using interdisciplinary research, active cooperation, and exchange of knowledge. The wildlife focused in this international project consists of arctic foxes, whales, seals, and birds. The project demand came from the tourism industry and was taken up by public organizations and academies within nature protection and tourism management. The project has also the maintainability of a destination in focus together with its sustainability.