ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses how meanings are attached to the human-environment relationships, especially in an Arctic context. It focuses on a large inquiry conducted among national and regional-level environmental administrators in all the Nordic countries, and presents the institutional views of nature in Western societies. The book describes the growing environmental consciousness and the general political situation, and analyses the environmental performance of the Nordic countries. It shows that Finland and Norway score no higher than the Economic Co-Operation and Development-average on environmental performance, whereas Sweden and Denmark perform better. The book aims to discuss and examine the grand trends of fragmentational development in the Nordic environmental administrations. It also analyses the influence of European Union policies on Finnish agri-environmental policies, primarily concerning water pollution.
