| dc.description.abstract | The backdrop for this research builds on a growing momentum that appreciates nature and the environment as the very cornerstone of our existence. The study examines the recently renewed ambition to develop a Norwegian seaweed industry, with a particular urge to explore the benefits that arise when recognizing the wider social-ecological values that exist in coupled human-nature systems such as this. The social-ecological systems framework, including seven resilience-building principles, are employed to better understand how the key stakeholders embedded in the system think and act in the context of resilience. In the current state of development, seaweed is regarded primarily as a resource that can deliver food provisioning and to some extent regulating services (including nutrient uptake and climate regulation). A minority of key actors also highlight the non-instrumental value of seaweed and emphasize such social and cultural ecosystem service benefits in their approach to management. While the resilience-principles offer a strong framework and tool for analysis to highlight stakeholder priorities and objectives in this respect, the study also examines two explanatory limits of the framework to adequately address dynamics pertaining to the social realm, 1) recognizing the underlying political and power structures inherent to the system, and 2) recognizing the broader social and cultural benefits as a critical factor to further build resilience. Ensuring that ecosystem services, a critical integrator between people and nature, continue to benefit society in a diverse and inclusive manner will depend on the recognition that systems and landscapes are complex and contested. Recognizing that there exist many, sometimes contradicting, perspectives on what the system could or should offer provides compelling evidence in favor of integrating the resilience and cultural landscape approach. | eng |