Bonden och landskapet : Ägares och brukares relationer till markerna och förutsättningarna för en uthållig markanvändning

Sammanfattning: Farmers and Landscape. Owners and farmers relations to their land, and the prospects for sustainable land use. In a transition towards sustainability, rural land use is of certain interest, owing to the environmental impact of modern farming and forestry, and also to its potential role in a recycling society. The prospects for sustainable land use depend on the farmers. Their conception of sustainability and perspective on the environmental discourse are crucial for how it will be worked out in practice. If methods are to be transformed, attitudes and values among farmers, those who actually make the decisions about how to use the land, are important. This dissertation is concerned with farmers relations to the landscape and prospects of sustainable land use, striving for a grass roots perspective. Reasons for land use change during the post-war period have been discovered through case studies among ordinary farmers in Southern Sweden. Regional variations and differences between certain categories of farmers have also been investigated. The spatial dimension of sustainability is considered by examining the farmers as actors in a local rural system. The results indicate a hidden potential in the attitudes of many farmers, remains of the traditional way of thinking and relating to nature and neighbours. By considering the place context, a potential in existing relations between man and environment is revealed. A place perspective also contributes to further development of the ideas concerning decentralization and increased local responsibility within the environmental paradigm.