Research project Managing Conflicts within the Wild Ungulate Legal Framework

The management of wild ungulates raises a range of legal issues related to hunting, land use, forestry, agriculture, nature conservation, and public administration. These fields involve the intersection of diverse interests, rights, and responsibilities, often giving rise to complex governance challenges and conflicts. The overall aim of the project is to analyse how legal regulation influences the management of such conflicts and to assess the extent to which existing legal frameworks facilitate coordination, decision-making, and conflict resolution.

A central component of the project is the examination of hunting rights, their legal content, and their significance within the broader system of wildlife governance. The research also investigates the relationship between different regulatory levels and governance mechanisms, with particular attention to the interaction between national legislation, administrative regulations, and European Union law. Through these analyses, the project seeks to enhance understanding of how legal frameworks operate in practice and how they affect the management of wild ungulate populations.

The project further situates wildlife management within the broader interdisciplinary field of research on the governance of common-pool resources, often referred to as the commons. Drawing on theories of resilience, adaptive governance, and institutional regulation, the research examines how legal institutions influence society’s capacity to manage shared natural resources over time. Particular attention is devoted to the ways in which legal structures may either promote or impede sustainable and legitimate forms of resource governance.

The research is guided by several overarching questions: How do legal rules shape relationships between stakeholders involved in wildlife management? How are private rights balanced against public interests in environmental governance? What role does the design of legal frameworks play in addressing ecological and societal change? And in what ways can legal institutions contribute to sustainable and effective governance of common natural resources?

The project aims to advance knowledge of the role of law in Swedish wildlife management. Its findings are expected to contribute to legal scholarship on hunting law, land-use regulation, and natural resource governance, while also informing discussions on legal reform, policy development, and institutional design. Ultimately, the project seeks to deepen our understanding of how legal structures influence the conditions for the long-term sustainable management of wild ungulate populations in Sweden.