Managing Wolves is Managing Narratives: Views of Wolves and Nature Shape People’s Proposals for Navigating Human-Wolf Relations

Autor: Uta Maria Jürgens, Margarita Grinko, Annelie Szameitat, Lena Hieber, Robert Fischbach, Marcel Hunziker
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Human Ecology, 51 (1)
ISSN: 1572-9915
0300-7839
DOI: 10.1007/s10745-022-00366-w
Popis: The resurgence of wolf populations in Germany is causing controversies regarding their management policies. Through 41 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, we found that respondents favored the management directives predicated on the narratives they entertained, i.e., beliefs about wolves and nature more broadly. We identified 18 narratives that ranged from the extreme of "beings-focused, harmony-oriented, and wolf-favoring" extreme through "ecosystem-focused, conservation-oriented, and wolf-ambivalent" to another extreme of "human-centered, dominion-oriented, and wolf-critical" extreme. The 24 directives aim to allow, balance, and control wolf behavior. Narratives and directives correlate: participants and stakeholders holding beings-focused views tend to propose more allowing directives, those endorsing ecosystem-focused perspectives lean to choose balancing directives, and those inclined to human-focused stances prefer controlling directives. Thus, our research allows wildlife managers to understand better why people endorse or oppose specific management options and devise effective communication strategies by working with the underlying narratives.
Human Ecology, 51 (1)
ISSN:1572-9915
ISSN:0300-7839
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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