From inaction to eradication: sharp policy turns in the management of invasive wild boar in Norway

Over the past 30 years, the status of the wild boar in Norway has undergone multiple revisions, shifting from a new species to unknown risk, severely high risk, and finally high risk. Upon detection of African swine fever in Sweden in 2023, the perceived threat escalated, culminating in the current zero-tolerance policy of eradication. After 40 interviews with a range of different wild boar stakeholders, we use a lens of the Multiple Streams Framework to identify, simplify and understand the complex wild boar management policy process. Our aim is to investigate how policies were rolled out or delayed, how and what triggered them, and how and what key stakeholders make of such policies. We found that perceptions of wild boar management vary among stakeholders, as well as their ability to influence policy and decision-making. Some stakeholder groups have been discouraged from participating in public hearings. Policy entrepreneurs might have been more successful in their efforts to influence wild boar policy than initially thought. We also found that there seems to be a higher demand for wild boar hunting in Norway than for access to hunting areas, and that wild boar could be more heavily prosecuted than other, more invasive species.