LAND: Accessibility, privacy and barriers for outdoor recreation along the coast

This three year NINA-NIBR-SSB project will concentrate on different (potential) land based visitors, residents and local dwellers perceptions and understandings of coast access possibilities, barriers and privacy needs. Such knowledge is vital in improvin g future planning and management of the coastline, taking care of both public and private interests, and in balancing nature protection, public visitation, and the need for developments and physical facilitaties in order to improve public access. To main tain or improve public accessibility to the coast is a supreme political goal in Norway. since access is vital for both residents and visitors. Today the public access is not well safeguarded or achieved, due to ongoing privatisation and physical developm ents (especially along the south-eastern Norw. coast); probably also due to local cultural premises for land-use-and-visitation, and other constraints. The project ambitions is to implement a scientifically broad and multi methodological study where the oretical contributions concerning accessibility and outdoor recreation constraints relate to local land use norms, privatization and other physical conditions. Both qualitative in-depth studies, local mapping of physical and access conditions, and regiona l surveys will be implementet. We will involve experts from Sweden, since the most relevant international reference and comparison is within the (Nordic) public-right-of-access-regime. We have designed a case study with one or two study areas located al ong the south-eastern Norw. coast, possibly the western Swedish coast. A broadly composed reference group (including international and Norw. expertise, relevant stakeholders and managers) will be actively involved in the working process of choosing area(s ) and also in guiding the implementation of the study. This will ensure an ongoing contact with the actual stakeholders.