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Abstract |
The Icelandic Central Highland cover about 40% of the country, gathering a wide range of landscapes combining large glaciers, vast black sand desert, powerful geothermal areas and rivers, rough lava fields and important wetlands. As a result from such a diversity, the area as a whole consist of an outstanding venue for nature-based tourism and outdoor recreation. Other natural resources are also found in the area, as it has been used since historical times for hunting, fishing or as summer pasture or more recently to produce electricity from renewable sources. Similar to any other use of the natural resource, perspectives of development of the area for nature-based activities are raising serious issues as such highly sensitive environments may be irreversibly impacted by human activities. The establishment of protected areas is presented by various stakeholders as a potential solution to address the issues induced by the exponential growth of tourism. This study aimed to approach the attitudes of outdoor recreationist to the Central Highland and land-use management issues related to its protection. While there seems to be a certain consensus regarding the need to address issues related to the development of tourism in the Central Highland, views gets very polarized when it comes to the idea of a National Park, with a striking gap between opinions expressed by users of motorized and non-motorized activities. |
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