Sara Matthee Shifting Grounds: A Relational Approach to Human–Nature Relationships and Environmental Values in Austrian Agricultural Peatlands Supervisors: Jamila Haider, Mollie Chapman (ETH Zürich) Expert reviewer: Maria Tengö Examiner: Nanda Wijermans Strengthening the diversity of ways humans relate to and value nature is increasingly recognized as a key leverage point for sustainability. Peatlands are important for sustainability due to their high biodiversity and carbon storage capacity. In Austria, however, many peatlands have been drained for agriculture, deepening tensions between nature protection and farming practices. Understanding how farmers value and relate to peatlands therefore offers important insights into how conservation and agricultural practices might be better aligned.The thesis applies a relational approach to explore the human-nature relationships and environmental values expressed by farmers in the Oichtenriede, a drained peatland in Salzburgerland, Austria. The Oichtenriede is characterized by diverse land use practices, ranging from Natura 2000 protected Streuwiesen (litter meadows) to more intensive grassland areas. Using walking with farmers, the thesis elicits how relationships and values are expressed through everyday farming and conservation practices. The analysis focuses on the co-constitution of human-nature relationships and environmental values, and on the factors that enable or constrain plural ways of relating to nature. The results show that farmers do not hold static positions (e.g. as a steward or a manager), but rather move through multiple configurations of human-nature relationships and mobilize different values across their practices. Small-scale farming, adaptations to peatland conditions, and subsidies emerged as enabling factors for this plurality. At the same time, farmers described partnership-oriented relationships that could not be practiced due to agricultural intensification and inflexible policy requirements. The thesis argues that misalignments between agri-environmental policies and farmers’ human-nature relationships can unintentionally constrain relational aspects of farming practices and may strengthen resistance towards nature protection measures. More adaptive, context-sensitive conservation policies may enable rather than constrain the diverse ways of valuing and relating to peatlands, with implications for nature protection more broadly.

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Cornelia Ludwig

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