Bioeconomy Strategy effects in Rural Areas : A comparative study of the Alpine region and Inner Scandinavia

Abstract: The European Commission Bioeconomy Strategy aims to stimulate an ecologically sustainable economy to mitigate climate change, declining biodiversity, and as an economic and social strategy meant to provide jobs and stimulate growth. The aim of this research project is to understand how the European Commission Bioeconomy Strategy is being interpreted and implemented in two different rural European regions, Inner Scandinavia, and the Alpine region, and based on those findings discuss how a sustainable bioeconomy strategy can be understood primarily in relation to the ecological sustainability goals of decarbonizing the economy and protecting biodiversity. This project has through literature studies and a case study with interviews, field observations and a spatial analysis of the territory using Corine Land Cover data highlighted the importance of links between governance and policy as enablers of ecologically, socially, and economically sustainable bioeconomy strategies. The results indicate three models comprised of distinct landscape types associated with specific bioeconomy strategies that are discussed in relation to the key concepts, bioeconomy, and sustainability. The analysis demonstrates that certain bioeconomy strategies may provide economic and social sustainability and not necessarily ecological effects. In fact, certain bioeconomy strategies, despite being framed as sustainable, may even be detrimental for ecological sustainability