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Forest enskilment - Biodiversity inventory to protect Swedish old-growth forests: from a multisensorial practice to a citizen science project

Charlier, Martin LU (2024) HEKM51 20241
Human Ecology
Human Geography
Department of Human Geography
Abstract
Sweden’s old-growth forests are disappearing due to the ever-increasing demand for timber. To protect them from logging, a specific articulation of environmental activism has gained momentum in recent years: biodiversity inventorying. Citizens (inventoryers) visit forests registered for logging to look for endangered species and turn their observation data into a powerful weapon of nature conservation. They use the available legal and administrative framework to make this data influence environmental governance, i.e. stop logging and if possible, achieve formal protection. My analysis of the phenomenon is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted during inventorying trips with forest groups around Sweden. In order to understand this... (More)
Sweden’s old-growth forests are disappearing due to the ever-increasing demand for timber. To protect them from logging, a specific articulation of environmental activism has gained momentum in recent years: biodiversity inventorying. Citizens (inventoryers) visit forests registered for logging to look for endangered species and turn their observation data into a powerful weapon of nature conservation. They use the available legal and administrative framework to make this data influence environmental governance, i.e. stop logging and if possible, achieve formal protection. My analysis of the phenomenon is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted during inventorying trips with forest groups around Sweden. In order to understand this specific form of inventorying, I depart from Tim Ingold’s notion of enskilment, a social and embodied process of acquiring skills through knowledge mobilization and sensorial education. My research shows that this practice strengthens place attachment and allows to politicize the issue of collapsing biodiversity by linking local struggles to a worldview critical of the extractivist approach of the forest industry and political representatives. It also empowers species and inventoryers and opens up alternative ways to weave new relationships with the non-human entities that dwell in forests ecosystems. (Less)
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author
Charlier, Martin LU
supervisor
organization
course
HEKM51 20241
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
old-growth forests, enskilment, citizen science, biodiversity inventory, environmental activism
language
English
id
9171900
date added to LUP
2024-09-17 12:52:14
date last changed
2024-09-17 12:52:14
@misc{9171900,
  abstract     = {{Sweden’s old-growth forests are disappearing due to the ever-increasing demand for timber. To protect them from logging, a specific articulation of environmental activism has gained momentum in recent years: biodiversity inventorying. Citizens (inventoryers) visit forests registered for logging to look for endangered species and turn their observation data into a powerful weapon of nature conservation. They use the available legal and administrative framework to make this data influence environmental governance, i.e. stop logging and if possible, achieve formal protection. My analysis of the phenomenon is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted during inventorying trips with forest groups around Sweden. In order to understand this specific form of inventorying, I depart from Tim Ingold’s notion of enskilment, a social and embodied process of acquiring skills through knowledge mobilization and sensorial education. My research shows that this practice strengthens place attachment and allows to politicize the issue of collapsing biodiversity by linking local struggles to a worldview critical of the extractivist approach of the forest industry and political representatives. It also empowers species and inventoryers and opens up alternative ways to weave new relationships with the non-human entities that dwell in forests ecosystems.}},
  author       = {{Charlier, Martin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Forest enskilment - Biodiversity inventory to protect Swedish old-growth forests: from a multisensorial practice to a citizen science project}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}