Outdoor recreation in protected coastal and marine areas in Sweden: What do we need to know?

• As globally recognized by many environmental researchers, there is an inseparable, but also challenging, link between recreational use and protection of the land/seascape in marine protected areas (MPAs). Currently, however, not much is known about the interrelations and interactions between recreation activities and protected coastal/marine landscapes in Sweden. In fact, only two studies on outdoor recreation in Swedish coastal/marine areas have been published the past 7 years. For instance, Rosemarie Ankre (2007) has previously focused on planning theory in coastal management, while Andrea Morf (2007; 2011) has investigated conflicts and local participation in coastal resource management. Apart from these two studies, not much else is written about outdoor recreation in Swedish coastal/marine areas, and the question about how recreational activities relate to and impact protected coastal land/seascapes is an absent theme in the literature altogether. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to address this topic, as well as the general lack of research on outdoor recreation in Swedish coastal/marine areas. First, I will address the knowledge gaps in current literature on outdoor recreation in Swedish coastal and marine areas, and second, I will identify and give examples of areas where more research is needed. On the background of my current research in Kosterhavet National Park, Sweden, I will thus conclude the paper by stating that more research on human-nature interactions in Swedish coastal/marine landscapes is needed if the link between recreational use and protection of the land/seascape in MPAs is to be understood more thoroughly.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Social och ekonomisk geografi -- Kulturgeografi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Social and Economic Geography -- Human Geography (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Outdoor recreation

monitoring

protected area

marine environment

Kosterhavet National Park

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)