In the Maasai Mara National Reserve the native people, the Maasai, have lived for a long time following their own traditions. Their traditional lifestyle is that of a nomadic people, leading their cattle to the best grazing. Sharing their land with a large variation of different animals, one of them being the African Elephant (Loxodonta africana), the Maasi people have since long adapted to a life side by side with these giants, as well as the fierce predators living in the area.The aim of this study is to determine whether the Maasai settlement, known as Boma, has any impact on the elephants in the surrounding area. In order to conclude whether the bomas has an impact or not, observations of the wildlife were carried out. Observations were conducted in two different seasons, in December 2003 and May/June in 2004.

Through a quantitative examination, 26 pedagogies in the pre-school activity answered a few questions in an enquiry about outdoor education. The purpose with this examination was to find out what pedagogies think and apprehend about outdoor education, and also if the "education plan" is in their minds during outdoor activities and if they see them self´s as competent in nature studies. They have also answered questions whether they think that they have good outdoor environment that stimulates children´s development and learning and if there´s any forest that they visit on regular basis.The pedagogies think that during time spent outdoor, it´s the motor skills that are best developed. All of the pedagogies mentioned above think that they need to get more educated in nature studies and also that pedagogies attitude towards time spent outdoors affect the children. They do not think about the goals and intentions of the "educations plan" all the time.

För att alla elever ska kunna uppnå scientific literacy bör man utgå från barnens erfarenheter där naturorienterade ämnen, NO, knyts till ett sammanhang ? en kontext. I kontexten synliggörs naturvetenskapens mänskliga sida, och därmed visa att NO är mer än fakta. Elever behöver lära om naturvetenskapen, vilket kallas nature of science, NOS. Vårt syfte är att ta reda på hur lärare aktualiserar nature of science genom ett Linné-tema.

Outdoor recreation habits in metropolis and rural areasThis study aims to examine the perception of nature and outdoor recreation habits from an urban-rural prospective. The urbanization process continues in Sweden and the populations of the cities are growing continuously. Trends to build more compact and ?climate smart? reigns and with this a risk that green areas and areas where outdoor recreation can be practiced are situated further and further away from the urban population. Analyzing the responses from a survey made by the research program Friluftsliv i förändring 2007 we have examined if and which differences exists between urban and rural areas regarding their perception of nature, outdoor recreation habits and factors influencing the practice of outdoor recreation.

AbstractThis essay aims to problematize and illuminate the connection between special-education and nature-based activities. With a theoretical ground that is based upon a sociocultural perspective I consider the information from the field. Through a qualitative and critical perspective I performed individual interviews with five pupils from the sixth school-year in the Swedish elementary-school. I also performed Focus-group interviews with two educators and three teachers in the same school-form. By a Hermeneutical working-method I have found out that the informants in my survey have a common experience that activities performed in nature has a positive effect on learning.

I examensarbetet har läroboksserier inom fysik för gymnasienivån studerats med avseende på Nature of Science. Begreppet Nature of Science, NOS, handlar om naturvetenskapens epistemologi och de sammanhang som påverkar skapandet av ny kunskap inom naturvetenskap. Aspekter från andra vetenskapsområden som, historia, filosofi, ekonomi, och sociologi lyfts fram som viktiga i kunskapsutvecklingen av naturvetenskap. Som grund för studien har ett avgränsat avsnitt, som i examensarbetet benämnts vad är ljus, undersökts. Inom detta område har det studerats om och hur NOS används i läroböckerna.

Abstract The aim of this study is to create a pathway through Gustav Sandgren?s short-story collection Skymningssagor and the second collection with that title, based on his social criticism, notions of art and nature, use of fairytale motifs and finally, his view of the metaphoric liberation of mankind. The study is based on a comparative and thematic investigation, illustrated by examples from Sandgren?s short stories. The theoretical framework is based on Eva Nordlinder?s study of the art fairytale in Sekelskiftets svenska konstsaga och sagodiktaren Helena Nyblom (1992) and Konstsaga och Kultursyn (1992) as well as Torben Brostrøm?s study of the folktale in Folksagan och den moderna litteraturen (1992). The investigation shows that Sandgren?s social criticism permeates his short stories, but that his keys to salvation, nature and art (first and foremost music) exist to help mankind rise above our shackles. The investigation also shows that Sandgren?s short stories are firmly placed within the tradition of the fairytale and the romantic notion of a relation between nature and man.  Keywords social criticism, fairytale, nature, music, art, liberation.

95% of the productive forest land in Sweden are now being exploited for forestry. The new Forestry Act of 1993 equate the goal of production and the environmental goal which means that the objective for forestry is a sustainable yield, while the biological diversity must be preserved. Recent years results from the inventories of the Board of Forestry show declining trends in how nature conservation aspects taken into consideration at the felling sites.The aim of this study is to investigate what happends with the nature consideration taken at felling sites in the long run. 20 final fellings in the county of Östergötland were re-inventoried 7-9 years after final felling. These felling sites had previously been inventoried before final felling (P0) and one year after final felling (P1) in the inventory Polytax by the Board of Forestry.

This paper examines how nature is understood in the province of Ha?rjedalen by the sami population of the area, through interviews with three informers and photographs taken by the author. Pictures and answers point in the direction that much of nature is understood through the reindeer, the most important key symbol of the reindeer herding part of the sami people and their kin..

AbstractWe are facing a century of rapid change in climate, with significant challenges in managing the impact of changes in living conditions for plants and animals. We can already see the responses of species through changes in phenology and spatial distribution, which may change ecosystem structure and function, with subsequent effect on ecosystem services and biological diversity. In Sweden, between 2005 and 2010, the red-listed species has increased by 13 % and similar trends can be seen across the world, making it difficult to attain national and international environmental objectives of preserving biodiversity. One way to reduce the loss of biodiversity is to protect nature from exploitation by allocating valuable areas as Nature reserves, but climate change affects protected areas just as much as other landscapes and therefore requires elaborate systems of protection to facilitate species' survival. The paper has examined  how the decisions and management plans for Nature reserves in Sweden have been followed-up and whether they are climate adapted or not by examining 30 Nature reserves, classified as newly formed (2012), recently revised (2009-2011) and older (1977-2007) reserves, and assessed what is in the decisions and management plans for follow-up, revision, long-term goals and documentation.

Outdoor recreation habits in metropolis and rural areasThis study aims to examine the perception of nature and outdoor recreation habits from an urban-rural prospective. The urbanization process continues in Sweden and the populations of the cities are growing continuously. Trends to build more compact and ?climate smart? reigns and with this a risk that green areas and areas where outdoor recreation can be practiced are situated further and further away from the urban population. Analyzing the responses from a survey made by the research program Friluftsliv i förändring 2007 we have examined if and which differences exists between urban and rural areas regarding their perception of nature, outdoor recreation habits and factors influencing the practice of outdoor recreation.

Outdoor recreation habits in metropolis and rural areasThis study aims to examine the perception of nature and outdoor recreation habits from an urban-rural prospective. The urbanization process continues in Sweden and the populations of the cities are growing continuously. Trends to build more compact and ?climate smart? reigns and with this a risk that green areas and areas where outdoor recreation can be practiced are situated further and further away from the urban population. Analyzing the responses from a survey made by the research program Friluftsliv i förändring 2007 we have examined if and which differences exists between urban and rural areas regarding their perception of nature, outdoor recreation habits and factors influencing the practice of outdoor recreation.

Outdoor recreation habits in metropolis and rural areasThis study aims to examine the perception of nature and outdoor recreation habits from an urban-rural prospective. The urbanization process continues in Sweden and the populations of the cities are growing continuously. Trends to build more compact and ?climate smart? reigns and with this a risk that green areas and areas where outdoor recreation can be practiced are situated further and further away from the urban population. Analyzing the responses from a survey made by the research program Friluftsliv i förändring 2007 we have examined if and which differences exists between urban and rural areas regarding their perception of nature, outdoor recreation habits and factors influencing the practice of outdoor recreation.

Nature is in many ways considered a source to both physical and mental health among people. Trends in today?s society reveal that children become more distanced to nature. Seen from the perspective of sustainable development this trend is considered crucial: it is of importance that children in their early ages experience nature positively in order to develop a dedication towards environmental issues as adults.The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers use outdoor learning as an educational tool. Research data were collected through a series of interviews.

This study was conducted in the "Kåtaberget" forest reserve in Västerbotten in the summer of 1999. In the summer of 1995, a prescribed burning was performed in the reserve. In some places where coarse dry woody debris (logs and stumps) was present, the fire consumed the wood, as well as parts of the humus layer, creating deep-burned patches. The low intensity ground fire also created dead woody debris by burning off living trees with open fire scars, as well as standing dead trees. In this study, the post-fire tree seedling establishment was examined, with special attention given to the former presence of woody debris. The study also includes a survey of the areal extent of deep-burned patches, as well as an examination of tree seedling establishment in these patches, compared to other burnt ground.