Socio-legal perspectives on consensus building in Finnish large carnivore policies

Recently, civil society organisations’ litigation has seemed to put a stop to the hunting of large carnivores in Finland, which has been a regular practice. In light of an updated interpretation of the European Union Habitats Directive provided by the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Finnish Supreme Administrative Court, the Finnish Wildlife Agency, which issues the permits for large carnivore hunting, has had to re-evaluate its reasoning for permitting large carnivore hunting. At the same time, critical voices opposing large carnivore hunting have increased both in academia and the general public. While conservationist arguments received support from the courts, the balance of power between stakeholders is shifting, potentially resulting in more inclusive policy making. However, consensus building has become even more difficult since the group of powerful stakeholders involved is widening. In this article we look at conflict management efforts regarding wolf policies, one of the most intensive and persistent environmental conflicts in Finland, in light of consensus building theories. The article is based on observations regarding the processes of management planning, stakeholder relations and media discussions, analysed through hermeneutic interpretation. We ask what changes large carnivore management has recently undergone, what repercussions such changes have, and what future challenges are emerging for conflict management. In addition to the formal wolf management planning, we focus on what is happening on the outskirts of the state-led stakeholder processes to reveal the criticism large carnivore policies are generating.