Fågelskådare och lantbrukare i samarbete : kommunikation och naturvård i jordbrukslandskapet

Sammanfattning: In the spring of 2006 a pilot project was initiated by The Rural Economy and Agricultural Societies of Sweden together with The Swedish Ornithological Society in order to increase collaboration between bird watchers and farmers. The project as a whole comprised 11 farms in South-Central Sweden. The aim was to benefit the decreasing populations of bird species related to the agricultural landscape. The purpose of this master thesis was to study how similarities and differences between bird watchers and farmers regarding opinions about nature, landscape, agriculture, birds and nature conservation have influenced the collaboration. Four of the farmers and five of the bird watchers that participated in the project were included in this study. Qualitative methods, such as interviews, were used to investigate the opinions and experiences among the project participants. The main conclusions are as follows: 1. The project led to increased collaboration between bird watchers and farmers and the degree of collaboration has the potential to grow, depending on how the objectives of the project are formulated in the future. 2. The farmers and the bird watchers had much in common. As they met within this project, they focused on their similarities rather than the differences between them. 3. The degree of collaboration was not optimized in this project. This did not depend on the attitudes of the participants, but was a result of unclear instructions and a lack of time for collaborative meetings. 4. The farmers' experience of participation is crucial for projects such as this. Therefore an effort from the project team is a necessity for its success. 5. One main result of this project was that the bird watchers and the farmers received personal and practical knowledge and understanding about the severe situation for birds related to the agricultural landscape.