Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Within the topic of sustainable development, the loss of biodiversity is one of the most urgent global
challenges of our time. We are in the midst of our planet’s sixth mass extinction, caused by human
activity, where we constantly lose more and more species. This led me to wonder how we as humans
view this issue and which aspects lies behind how we choose to work for biodiversity. The objective
of this study is therefore to identify different views on nature and to study the correlation between
these views and how the problem of biodiversity loss is represented in the work for biodiversity.

The research questions that led this investigation have been the following: What different views on
nature can be found in actors within environmental work for biodiversity? and What correlations
can be found between the actors’ view on nature and how they present their work for biodiversity?
To investigate these questions, a mix of semi-structured interviews and text/policy analysis have
been used to get a broad perspective of the actors. Five actors in the form of organizations and
agencies have been invesitgated, all within the field of working with biodiversity. To analyze the
gathered information, three theoretical frameworks have been used to shine the light on different
aspects of view on nature. These three are: environmental ethics, nature-culture dualism and Hillevi
Helmfrid’s categorizations.

In the analysis, multiple views on nature connected to the collected material from the organizations
and agencies were detected. Even if some of the actors clearly were tilted towards certain views, it
became clear that views on nature often contains contradictions and that it’s not easy to categorize
a whole establishment within a single view on nature. The correlation between view on nature and
work for biodiversity showed to be complex and was not always predictable.