Tourism – as exploration and demonstration of which sustainable development? The case of a biosphere reserve

In contrast to traditional nature protection strategies, UNESCO\u27s Man and Biosphere Reserves (BRs) can be seen as a more pronounced perspective that includes nature, culture and sustainable development. Tourism is generally supported in BRs, which also are meant to function as "learning sites of excellence to explore and demonstrate approaches to conservation and sustainable development" (UNESCO, 1996 p. 16). The focus of BRs has centred on environmental sustainability, due to the concept\u27s history in nature preservation. However, like all global concepts, the interpretation of sustainable development in BRs is filtered over time through national, regional and local conditions. Explicit or underlying development strategies are also in place when the concept is applied in practice. It is therefore important to gain a better understanding of how sustainable development is interpreted and how BR stakeholders see the role of tourism over time. It is against this background that a case study was carried out on the Lake Vänern Archipelago BR in Sweden, its tourism aspects and the interpretation of sustainable development. The findings illustrate an ambivalence with regard to which approach to sustainable development is preferred, but there are striking parallels between the evolution of environmental commitment during the 20th century and the changing profile of BRs in general. Further, it can be noted that studying concrete examples of situated cases of sustainable development efforts in terms of biosphere reserves can contribute greatly to the ongoing discussion about which development approaches are seen as more or less sustainable