Hanna Pettersson

Hanna Pettersson, Postdoctoral research associate

Carnivore conservation, policy and governance

hanna.pettersson@york.ac.uk

Biography

I am a social scientist by training with an interdisciplinary research focus, collaborating as widely as possible to answer questions about how to foster convivial relationships between people and wildlife in shared landscapes. My MSc research (University of Oxford) focussed on the reintroduction of jaguars and other charismatic fauna in Argentina, while my PhD (University of Leeds) explored the dynamics between expanding wolf populations, managing authorities and rural communities in northern Spain. The emphasis of this project was to explore the conditions of coexistence, the social and ecological factors that enable mutual adaptation and how these can be proactively supported.

Research

In my work for LCAB I am expanding on my research in Spain through incorporating perspectives from pastoral communities in France and Sweden. The aim is to understand the drivers of vulnerability and adaptation among the communities that are the most impacted by the presence of “problematic” wildlife such as large carnivores. I will particularly focus on incentive schemes and tolerance targets in reindeer herding areas in northern Sweden, as a case study of how the benefits and burdens of coexistence may be (re)distributed. I will also explore how indigenous and local knowledge systems may be braided with western science to improve conservation governance, as well as future scenarios of coexistence given growing commitments to nature restoration and rewilding. 

Publication highlights

Carver, S., Convery, I., Hawkins, S., Beyers, R., Eagle, A., Kun, Z., van Maanen, E., Cao, Y., Fisher, M., Edwards, S. R., Nelson, C., Gann, G. D., Shurter, S., Aguilar, K., Andrade, A., Ripple, W. J., Davis, J., Sinclair, A., Bekoff, M., … Soulé, M. (2021). Guiding principles for rewilding. Conservation Biology, 35(6), 1882–1893.

Pettersson, H. L., & de Carvalho, S. H. C. (2020). Rewilding and gazetting the Iberá National Park: Using an asset approach to evaluate project success. Conservation Science and Practice, July, 1–14.

Pettersson, H. L., Quinn, C. H., Holmes, G., & Sait, S. M. (2021). “ They Belong Here ”: Understanding the Conditions of Human-wolf Coexistence in North-western Spain. 1–11.

Pettersson, H. L., Quinn, C. H., Holmes, G., Sait, S. M., & Lopez-Bao, J. V. (2021). Welcoming Wolves? Governing the Return of Large Carnivores in Traditional Pastoral Landscapes. Frontiers in Conservation Science, 2(710218).

Funder

The Leverhulme Trust