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In an increasingly globalised world, discourses articulated in and through international arenas 1 shape and influence national and local protected area discourses, and the outcomes of international negotiations have substantial effects on the space for agency of individuals and groups on national and local levels. The number and scope of international institutions, organisations and knowledge systems aimed at solving environmental problems are growing, as is the influence of international conservation authorities. International law governs much national protected area legislation, and discourses of protected areas are intertwined within and across political and administrative levels. 2 International arenas for nature conservation and protected areas have also proved important for Indigenous advocacy, as part of Indigenous peoples' strategies to legitimise and support their claims to land rights, participation and political influence. 3 Discourses of area protection have traditionally been concentrated on preserving and maintaining (the idea of ) 'untouched' or 'wilderness' areas, and have largely ignored or suppressed Indigenous land and resource use. 4 In recent decades, the arguments and ideologies underpinning area protection have changed, introducing concepts such as biological diversity protection and sustainable development along with rights-based approaches, increased recognition of local and traditional knowledge and a growing focus on local participation. 5 International arenas for nature conservation and area protection increasingly focus on Indigenous peoples' role in and contribution to conservation policies and have become important instruments through which they can gain protection for their natural resources, knowledge, traditions and lifestyles. 6 Indigenous peoples are visible advocacy and attempts to influence policy. International law can be an important tool for advancement of the political goals of Indigenous peoples, and international activism can be a way for them to bypass national levels where they are not sufficiently or accurately represented. 8 However, both scholars and Indigenous representatives have also problematised the major international conventions for nature conservation and area protection. Critics argue that these texts are largely constructed and upheld by non-Indigenous people, that their organisations and decision-making bodies include representatives of nation-states where Indigenous peoples are still struggling for recognition of their rights and that they do not always provide adequate mechanisms for Indigenous influence and participation. They have also been criticised for upholding and reproducing colonial discourses and structures, and for failing to safeguard, or even violating, Indigenous rights.

This article investigates the space for agency of the Indigenous Sami in the management of the Laponia World Heritage site in northern Sweden. Analysing policy documents and interviews with key actors within a framework of post-colonial and discourse theory, I argue that discursive constructions of the management organisation, understandings of the relationships between the parties involved, and perceptions of challenges for the management organisation affect the Sami space for agency in the management of Laponia. Furthermore, there is a tension between the intrinsic value of Sami influence that follows an understanding of the Sami as an Indigenous people and the more instrumental value of Sami influence following a focus on the Sami reindeer-herding communities as important for the values of the World Heritage site. The positioning of the Sami in Laponia affects, and in some ways limits, the space for Sami political agency. It also connects to colonial discourses, historical and contemporary inequalities, and unequal power structures. Nevertheless, the management of Laponia is a unique example of increased Sami influence, resulting from Sami political struggle for recognition of their rights. ; First published online 16 April 2015. ; Indigenous rights and nature conservation

There is considerable geographical overlap between areas set aside for nature conservation or protection and Indigenous peoples' lands, and the social, economic, and political consequences of protected areas have often been extensive for Indigenous peoples. Discourses of conservation converge with discourses of Indigenous peoples, and both carry a legacy of colonial constructs and relationships. With these overlaps as a point of departure, the purpose of this thesis is to explore how the discourses that govern nature conservation and protected areas shape the conditions for Indigenous peoples' influence and participation in the governance and management of protected areas on their lands. I pursue this aim by analyzing, and critically examining the consequences of, the construction of Indigenous subject positions and conditions for agency in discourses of nature conservation and protected areas. The empirical focus of the thesis lies with international discourses of protected areas and Indigenous peoples and on local and national discourses articulated in relation to two cases of protected areas in Sápmi. My analytical framework builds on postcolonial theory and discourse theory. I use space for agency as a concept to describe and analyze the effects of the discursive positionings and constructions that shape the ability or capacity of individuals or group to act or to be perceived as legitimate actors. My results show twomain articulations of Indigenous subject positions in protected area discourses, which enable and restrain the space for Indigenous agency in different ways. One articulation connects Indigenous peoples to conservation through the concept of traditional knowledge, thereby positioning Indigenous subjects mainly as holders of traditional knowledge and justifying Indigenous influence by its potential contribution to conservation objectives. The other articulation focuses on the rights pertaining to Indigenous peoples as peoples, including land rights and the right to selfdetermination. These articulations are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but they have potentially different consequences and indicate discursive tensions that can affect the space for Indigenous agency in relation to protected areas. Moreover, my results demonstrate the hegemony of discourses that takes conservation through area protection for granted and subordinates Indigenous land use to conservation objectives, structure Indigenous agency as "participation" in specific types of arrangement, and articulate Indigenous rights in relation to hegemonic constructions of sovereignty, self-determination, and rights. These hegemonic formations silence articulations that would challenge the authority of colonizing societies over Indigenous territories, suppress radical critique of the fundamental nature of arrangements for protected area governance and management, and subdue alternatives to discourses of contemporary liberal democracy and individual property rights.

The goals of nature conservation have changed over the last decades, but setting aside areas for nature protection is still a major part of environmental efforts globally. Protected areas often include traditional lands of indigenous peoples, and although indigenous rights have been strengthened through international treaties, conflicts over land entitlement are still common. I analyse indigenous peoples' role in nature conservation, focusing on the discursive construction of indigenous subject position in the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and using post-colonial theory to situate the discussion in its historical and political context, discussing what subject positions are made available to indigenous people, and what political agency they can be assumed to entail. The analysis shows that limits to indigenous space for agency are embedded in the Convention on Biological Diversity discourse – the analysed texts present a narrow recognition of indigenous people's role in the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity, with a heavy focus on indigenous subjects as holders of traditional knowledge, and a clear influence from colonial notions and post-colonial power relations. ; Indigenous rights and nature conservation

Policy formulation refers to how problems identified in the agenda-setting phase transform into government programs. As the process of designing policy alternatives expresses and allocates power among different interests, policy formulation affects both implementation and outcomes. This paper examines the Swedish moose policy of 2010, revealing that the policy portrays the issue of moose as an ecological problem, while motivations for adopting policy measures are largely described in economic terms. Because of this incongruity, the policy may not achieve its goals. Furthermore, implementation principles stemming from different design strategies clash in the attempt to incorporate both local and ecosystem-based levels of management into a single system, leaving the policy implementation with many uncertainties and tensions. To deliver the policy's goal, the government could consider clarifying the operationalization of the ecosystem-based management approach and identifying the prerequisites necessary for building capacity, dealing with strong stakeholders, and ensuring fair representation of key actors. Future research should further explore the consequences of policy imbalances in relation to intended goals, the importance of understanding the rationales and design strategies underpinning implementation principles, and the need to discuss operationalization of EBM in relation to different types of objects of management and to issues of scale.

The governance of large carnivores are often surrounded by conflicts. Along with the difficulties of governing large carnivores through centralized, top-down governing and a general shift toward participatory approaches in natural resource governance, this has led many countries to establish various collaborative measures in large carnivore governance - often presented as catch-all solutions to problems of legitimacy, democratic deficit and effectiveness. However, the field of large carnivore governance currently lacks a coherent understanding of strenghts and weaknesses of different kinds of collaborative arrangements. In this paper, we address this knowledge gap. Using the framework of modes of governance to categorize and compare the governance of large carnivores in Norway, Sweden and Finland, we discuss the potential and limitations of various governance modes and identify gaps in contemporary research literature. The main conclusion is that all three governance systems need to incorporate more interactive governance elements.

The Brundtland Commission report 'Our Common Future' highlighted that residents in high-income countries lead lifestyles incompatible with planetary boundaries. Three decades later, consumption-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have continued to increase. To achieve 'well below 2°C' and 1.5 °C goals, consumption-related emissions must be substantially reduced in the coming decades. This paper provides insights on how to pursue 1.5 °C pathways through changes in household consumption. It draws on original data gathered in the project 'HOusehold Preferences for reducing greenhouse gas Emissions in four European High Income Countries' (HOPE) to analyse policies targeting and affecting direct and indirect GHG emissions in three household consumption categories (mobility, housing and food) in four countries (France, Germany, Norway and Sweden) and four medium-sized cities. This paper demonstrates discrepancies and similarities between current governmental policy approaches in the four countries and household perceptions of consumption changes with respect to policy mechanisms, responsibilities and space for acting on mitigation. Current demand-side policy strategies rely heavily on instruments of self-governance and nudging behaviour. Whilst some of our data suggests that households broadly accept this, it also suggests that governments could more actively lead and steer demand-side mitigation via adjusting and supplementing a comprehensive list of 20 climate policy measures currently in place in one or more of the case countries. The paper concludes by suggesting areas for more effective policy change and household-level climate change mitigation to feed the next update of climate pledges under the Paris Agreement.