SAMFUNN: Cultures of Biodiversity: Perceptions and Practices.

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Contemporary management of the environment rests on the assumption that there is a one-to-one relationship between perceptions and practices. Regulatory models take a piecemeal approach to the environment where biodiversity often becomes objectified and e ssentially quantifiable. Through a comparative study of local understanding of environmental changes whether anthropogenic or natural - the project will provide in-depth analysis that will contribute to an enhanced appreciation of the complexity of atti tudes to the environment and to biodiversity; to the values, priorities and actions of different stakeholders - local populations, governments, local authorities and environmental NGOs . Using long-term participant-observation, anthropological research will be undertaken in a range of settings from fishing communities in Northern Norway to tropical rain forests, from savannahs and mountain pastures to industrial farming and urban sprawls in order to ascertain how people diagnose environmental change and its effects. Such knowledge will contribute to more informed future policy decisions. The common analytic approach will address a number of central issues in recent debates in environmental anthropology, such as the relationship between nature and cultu re and the interface between such externally imposed categories, questions of adaptability and social resilience, and the definition of "community". The project will emphasise the linkage between local communities and the wider political-ecological syste ms, and explore areas of tensions and misunderstanding between the various actors. Four analytical premises will be used in all cases: Perception - how people perceive changes to the environment; Knowledge - how people comprehend what they see based on c ultural models and social conditions; Valuation - how people give value to what they see and know; Response - how people respond, individually and collectively, on the basis of these meanings and values.