Hannes PALANG, Tallinn University, Estonia
Kadri KASEMETS, Tallinn University, Estonia
Raili NUGIN, Tallinn University, Estonia
Tarmo PIKNER, Tallinn University, Estonia
Anu PRINTSMANN, Tallinn University, Estonia
Tauri TUVIKENE, Tallinn University, Estonia
The 1990s produced a handful of research papers with tragically sounding titles about the rural exodus. 30 years later we have a number of villages in Estonia with minimal amounts of inhabitants. How can one do research where, on the one hand, the numbers are too small to come up with any meaningful statistics, and one the other, the responsibility for the landscape is in hands of very few people?
Landscape can be understood as common good, which is influenced by different stakeholders. The landscape approach, as defined by Shuttleworth (2017), should offer a mechanism for reconciling top-down objectives and needs with bottom-up perspectives and priorities. The problem, however, as Hernandez Morcillo et al (2017) show is that the priorities of different stake holders do not coincide too much.
How would this approach work in marginal areas with minimal (and declining) human populations where landscape changes are becoming dependent on individual decisions of a very small number of people? There are areas with minimal – and declining – rural populations which fall in the gap of interest between traditional management sectors, such as agriculture, forestry, or nature conservation. In cases like this the development of a landscape becomes dependent on everyday practices of a small group of people (Palang et al 2019). How are these decisions made? What is the role of landscape here? We will use multiple cases in Estonia to study how concepts like stewardship and seasonality might in fact help maintaining the cultural landscapes and thereby contribute to the sustainability of rural landscapes – and perhaps have also something to do with the sustainability of rural systems.
Mots clés : marginal areas|landscape|Estonia
A104203HP