Mid Sweden University

Trails in natural areas constitute an essential resource in tourism as they provide infrastructure for both tourists and tourism companies. Trails allow access to nature and increase safety for visitors by guiding them to the appropriate route, where places of danger are avoided and the risk of damaging ecologically sensitive areas minimized. Even so, touristic activities in natural settings are today increasing and are more diversified as there are many ‘new’ activities becoming accessible for more people, for example mountain biking, trail-running and mountaineering. These trends and changes in tourism and outdoor recreation have resulted in an increase of trail-use, which in turn entails more trail-based conflicts. Conflicts occur between different recreational activities that use the same trail, but also between trail-based recreationists and other land-use interests. Thus, planners and managers of natural areas increasingly have to handle conflicts related to trail-use. Although conflicts relating to trails are becoming more common, research on trails as a conflict management tool is limited. Research has mainly focused on conflicts between trail-based recreation activities, and not on how the trail itself can be used to handle conflicts between land-use interests. As a number of land-use interests use the trail for various purposes, it can be argued that the multi-faceted features and flexible characteristics that constitute a trail can be helpful in handling such conflicts. The point of departure for this licentiate thesis is the assumption that trails in the natural landscape can function as a conflict management tool. Through the recreational trail, dialogue and discussions are made possible among stakeholders. Trails can therefore function as facilitators for communication, and thus enhance the possibilities of building trust and promoting collaboration between actors.

The results of this thesis derive from a case study of the southern Jämtland mountains in Sweden, an area where conflicts of interests exist. There are several different interests and perspectives on how the mountain landscape should be used, perspectives including those of tourism companies, reindeer herding, nature conservation interests and local population. The trails in the area are, however, important to all stakeholder groups, and collaboration around the trails is therefore examined in this thesis as an applied example where stakeholders communicate and negotiate.

Data for this thesis was collected by working closely with stakeholders in the area and by organizing workshops where different interests could meet and discuss issues relating to trails. Results show that creating platforms for collaboration and dialogue are important for increasing the understanding between different interests represented within stakeholder groups. Such platforms can therefore be highly valuable in handling conflicts regarding land-use.

This licentiate thesis contributes to increased knowledge on the multi-faceted roles of trails intended for tourism and outdoor recreation. This is achieved by the examination of international trail research to identify research gaps, together with the analysis of trails as a tool for collaboration and communication to handle land-use conflicts. The thesis contributes to the existing literature on handling multiple land-use interests, and adds to previous knowledge by taking on a rather new approach; that of the recreational trail as a facilitator for communication.

Nature experiences and participation in nature-based activities are increasingly recognised as beneficial to public and individual health, yet in most societies, the ability for people to take advantage of opportunities to acquire these benefits is unequal. Social constructs such as gender and disability, as well as levels of income and education, influence to what extent individuals can engage with nature, and there is growing concern over the increased disconnectedness from nature in urbanised societies. Nature-based tourism and outdoor recreation is argued to have an important role to play in rekindling this relationship between humans and the natural environment. Based on this, there is a real need to examine people’s access to nature through nature-based tourism. 

This thesis studies access to nature through the four perspectives of infrastructure, conflicts of interests, exclusion and collaboration, in order to broaden the scope of how nature-based tourism can support equal opportunities to nature experiences. The included papers employ mixed-methods research from three case study areas in Sweden, with a particular focus on the southern Jämtland mountains. The four perspectives that constitute the framework of this thesis are expressed in each of the papers. Paper I reviews research on infrastructure for touristic purposes, and lays the foundation for paper II, where I examine the role of recreational trails in handling issues of collaboration and conflicts of interests in a mountain area affected by land-use conflicts. Paper III investigates exclusion from outdoor recreation activities from a gender perspective, and paper IV researches how accessible infrastructure, intended for people with disabilities to access protected areas, can give rise to conflicts between the competing interests of nature conservation and accessibility. Together, the findings in these papers suggest that although equal access to nature is desirable, there is a need to problematize the many layers of the concept. Improved access for one group can reduce access for another, and facilitated access to natural areas can cause problems of crowding and environmental degradation. This paradox requires further highlighting. Moreover, I argue that the call for a reconnection with nature to foster environmental responsibility, and to counteract declining public health in societies is exclusive, as constructs of gender and disability give unequal prerequisites to nature engagement. Despite this, access to nature is a democratic right, so although there is a need to recognise the complexity of access, I advocate for collaborative efforts to enhance access to nature for marginalised groups, and to consider aspects of access in land-use conflict management.