Kestlik kogukonnakorraldus: kultuuripärandiga seostuvate arendustegevuste peegeldusi Kihnu saarelt, Viljandi maakonnast ja Eesti kaitsealadelt

The PhD thesis of Priit-Kalev Parts entitled “Sustainable community management in Estonia: reflections on heritage projects on Kihnu Island, in Viljandi county, and in various protected areas” examines the problems related to the administration and protection of landscape, rural life and other traditional values in an era in which, even for rural populations, agriculture is being rapidly demoted to a subsidiary source of employment and income. The author analyses the conceptual underpinnings of the conservation of nature and heritage in Estonia and reveals implicit ideological currents in the regulatory practice of the field. The thesis suggests a series of alternative concepts (living landscape, rural inhabitants as an endangered breed, heritage-based sustainable livelihoods, endangered settlements) as the basis for the assessment, monitoring and regulation of rural landscapes. The author elaborates a series of guidelines and measures to ensure that, in the management of landscape planning and rural cultural heritage, closer attention is paid to the specifics of local conditions and that local residents are not cornered into addictive subsidy arrangements by excessive prohibitions and controls on their livelihoods. The thesis includes examples of attempts to reconceptualise local nature and heritage protection as a complex set of actions seeking to develop sustainable livelihoods. The approach highlights the role of values in the making of the corresponding decisions and suggests various options for achieving economic and administrative savings in practical landscape planning. The thesis discusses how the approach may be implemented in the protected areas of Estonia and in other culturally sensitive areas. The approach is also shown to hold considerable potential for application in the administration and regional development of cultural landscapes located outside protected areas. The studies conducted as part of the thesis show that there is no agreement in Estonia concerning the values that underpin the assessment of cultural landscapes and cultural heritage. Although a certain body of accepted rhetorical formulations has developed over time, it is often used to justify widely different or even outright contradictory aims and visions, which often results in the euphemisation of problems and development priorities. The accepted rhetoric appears to favour the interests and perspectives of mobile groups (tourists, academic experts) over those of local residents and is geared to generate opposition between economic activities and protective measures. The author recommends a more dynamic and complex approach to rural values and suggests that protective measures should be integrated into the development of sustainable local livelihoods. This entails a series of challenges to official institutions in terms of rewriting the existing regulations and rethinking their practical work such that the protection regimes of each protected area would be determined with regard to the specifics of the area. It also means that, where necessary, the institutions should be prepared to grant local communities priority rights to use natural resources, to relieve the restrictions on human activity in endangered settlements and to arrange for and recognise, in relation to certain trades, the individual learning of those in the immediate or approximate environment of skill bearers.Priit-Kalev Partsi doktoritöö “Kestlik kogukonnakorraldus: kultuuripärandiga seostuvate arendustegevuste peegeldusi Kihnu saarelt, Viljandi maakonnast ja Eesti kaitsealadelt” käsitleb maaliste väärtuste haldust ja kaitset olukorras, kus põllumajandus on maapiirkondade elanike jaoks taandumas kõrvaliseks sissetuleku ja tööhõive allikaks. Autor analüüsib loodus- ja muinsuskaitse kontseptuaalseid aluseid ning varjatult ideoloogilisi seoseid valdkonna korralduspraktikaga, pakkudes välja alternatiivseid mõtestamiskonstruktsioone (elav maastik, maainimene kui ohustatud tõug, pärandipõhine kestlik elatis, ohustatud asustusega külad) maa-maastike hindmiseks, seireks ja korralduseks. Analüüsi ja alternatiivsete kontseptsioonide sünteesi alusel töötas autor välja tegevusjuhiseid ja meetmeid maa-maastike ja maakultuuripärandi senisest kohasidusamaks ja iseorganiseeruvamaks korraldamiseks. Väitekirjas demonstreerib autor kohaliku loodus- ja muinsuskaitse ümbermõtestamise katseid kestlike elatiste arendamisele suunatud tegevuste kompleksina. Lähenemine toob selgelt esile väärtuspõhisuse ning pakub praktilisele maastikukorraldusele majanduslikke ja halduslikke kokkuhoiuvõimalusi. Väitekiri demonstreerib, kuidas antud lähenemist rakendada Eesti kaitsealadel ja teistel kultuuriliselt tundlikel aladel, osutades selle potentsiaalile ka väljaspool kaitsealasid paiknevate kultuurmaastike haldamises ja regionaalses arendustöös. Doktoritöö tulemusena selgus, et Eestis puudub kokkulepe kultuurmaastike ja kultuuripärandi väärtuskriteeriumite osas. Kuigi välja on kujunenud ühtne retoorika, teostatakse selle raames väga erinevaid või lausa vastuolulisi eesmärke ja nägemusi, mis viib sageli probleemide ning arenguprioriteetide eufemistliku käsitlemiseni. Väljakujunenud retoorika kaldub eelistama liikuvate (turistid, akadeemilised eksperdid) rühmade huve ja vaatenurka paiksete ees ning suunab majandus- ja kaitsetegevusi vastandama. Väitekirja autor soovitab läheneda maalistele väärtustele dünaamilisemalt ja komplekssemalt, lõimides kaitsetegevused kohalike kestlike majanduspraktikate arendamisega. Ametlikele institutsioonidele kätkeb see nii õiguslikke kui praktilist töökultuuri puudutavaid väljakutseid määratleda väärtused ja vastavad hoiumeetmed iga ala puhul eraldi. Samuti tähendab see institutsioonidele vajadust arendada valmisolekut anda kohalikule kogukonnale vajadusel loodusressursside kasutamisel eelisõigusi, leevendada inimtegevuse õiguslikke ja praktilisi piiranguid ohustatud asustusega külades ning korraldada ja tunnustada teatud oskuste õpet individuaalselt oskuste kandjate vahetus või lähedases keskkonnas

Coolest Student Papers at Finland Futures Research Centre 2016–2017 : Tulevaisuuden tutkimuskeskuksen valittuja opiskelijatöitä 2016–2017

This is the second volume of our Coolest Student Papers series which was launched last year. The collection publishes inspired and inspiring picks from the student essays written by students and student groups in the courses organised by Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC). The topics range from sustainability issues to corporate foresight, from ethics to methodology, from artificial intelligence to futures consciousness. Some of the essays take a critical stance to projects that have been carried out at the FFRC, which is something we especially wish to support. Independent, constructively critical open deliberation of how futures studies should be carried out is one of the core goals of our education and a key to further development of the courses and the whole field of futures studies. The volume is divided to sections by the course. Each section begins with an evaluation made by the teacher after which the student essay(s) follow(s). The essays of the courses studied in Finnish language are at the end of the volume. The essays are from the international Master’s Degree Programme of Futures Studies, the Sustainable Development minor and Futures Studies minor offered in Finnish language. Our PhD programme essays are excluded as we expect postgraduates to aim directly at journal articles

Social work promoting community and environmental sustainability: A workbook for global social workers and educators (Volume 2)

Incredible work is being done all over the world by social workers addressing issues at the nexus of community and environmental sustainability. We hope this book will inspire you, whether you have been involved with these issues for decades, or you are new to and curious about the topic. This volume of the workbook series focuses primarily on Indigenous voices and knowledge, ecotherapeutic practices, and the interdisciplinary nature of sustainability in social work. As allies with Indigenous peoples, we aim for this workbook resource to make space for those working to decolonize, especially within the social work profession in education, research, and practice. This book is formatted as a workbook, with short lessons accompanied by exercises that help you apply the lessons theoretically and in your own practice. It is intended as a tool for international social work practitioners, students, and educators to help advance the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development theme of working toward environmental sustainability. We hope that by making this workbook available, we are enabling climate justice issues to be acknowledged as urgent and repositioned as central to social work in particular, and to life in general

Trends in US Crop Yields & Water Use

Over half the land in the US is dedicated to agriculture, with the vast majority of all cropland cultivated in corn, wheat, or soybean. Despite continuing advances in agricultural technologies, and consistent yield growth over the twentieth century, research suggests that environmental change is already impacting agricultural yield and future changes are sure to exacerbate challenges to agricultural production. It follows that the future of US agriculture depends on the evolution of the changing climate, the relationship between crop yields and the environment, on-farm management and adaptations, the ecosystems that support agriculture, the political and economic incentives that shape what farmers grow and how they grow it, and the technology developed to improve yields. This study will focus on two pieces of the aforementioned agricultural puzzle—the relationship between crop yields and the environment, and water use management in irrigated agriculture. This study contributes to current literature by exploring trends in irrigated agriculture at the county-scale, and by examining the efficacy of Random Forest (RF) regression in predicting agricultural yield. Results from the second chapter, where we utilize exploratory mapping and data mining techniques to understand trends in irrigated agriculture in the Western US, are pending approval from the USDA-NASS and are not reported here. Alternatively, we build a practical guide to working with operator-level irrigation survey data. Results from the third chapter suggest that RF predicts US corn yields well and point to the importance of space and time in corn yield prediction, and the highly nonlinear response of corn yield to irrigation, climate, and agricultural diversity covariates. These results demonstrate the predictive capacity of RF regression to model complex corn yield responses to biophysical and landscape conditions and point to the power of building an ensemble of different models, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, to characterize and predict agricultural yield

Planeerija muutuv roll. Loov pragmatism Eesti ruumilises planeerimises

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneDoktoritöö eesmärgiks on portreteerida Eesti ruumilise planeerimise teoreetilist kontseptsiooni, uurides muutusi planeerija rollis. Ma vaatlen planeerijate ülesandeid, otsustusõigust ja võimu, samuti professionaalseid oskusi. Eesti ruumilise planeerimise teoreetilise raamistikuna pakun välja loova pragmatismi, mis aitab mõista planeerijatele esitatavate ootuste laiemat konteksti. Analüüsin planeerija rolli ja pragmatismi ilminguid Kesk- ja Ida-Euroopale ning Eestile iseloomulike ruumiliste nähtuste, suvilaalade ja paneelelamurajoonide, näitel. Sotsialistliku ruumiplaneerimise ehedate näidetena peegeldub nende alade arenguloos meie sotsiaal-kultuuriline pärandit. Sealsete eripäraste elukeskkondade kujunemislugu aitab avada planeerija rolli erinevatel tasanditel.The aim of this research is to establish a theoretical concept for spatial planning in Estonia and examine the role of planners in the society. I concentrate on summer house settlements - “summurbia” - and large socialist housing estates which are two characteristic spatial phenomena specific to the Central and Eastern Europe and Estonia. As vivid examples of the legacy of socialist spatial planning, these areas reflect clearly the socio-cultural background of the Soviet Era and are thus uniquely suitable objects for studying planning theory and practice. The evolution of these distinct living environments exposes the role of a planner on multiple levels. I study the tasks assigned to planners and the powers seized by them, the opportunities they sought and skills they needed in their professional activities. I propose pragmatism as the theoretical framework underlying Estonian planning and explore the wider context of expectations for planners.https://www.ester.ee/record=b5250529~S

Place identity and environmentally responsible behaviour in Eko-Viikki sustainable neighbourhood

Ihmisten käyttäytyminen on suuressa roolissa ympäristökriisin ratkaisussa. Teknologiset ratkaisut tai poliittiset päätökset eivät auta, jos ihmiset eivät ota ratkaisuja käyttöön tai suuntaavat toimintansa vain toiseen ympäristöä kuormittavaan vaihtoehtoon. Lisäksi jo nyt suurin osa energiankulutukseen liittyvistä hiilidioksidipäästöistä aiheutetaan kaupungeissa ja kaupunkien väkilukujen kasvaessa myös päästöt kasvavat jatkuvasti. On siis löydettävä keinoja kaupunkilaisten ympäristökäyttäytymisen muuttamiseksi ympäristövastuullisemmaksi. Paikkaidentiteetin on tutkittu vaikuttavan positiivisesti ympäristökäyttäytymiseen, mutta aiempaa tutkimusta ekoasuinalueiden paikkaidentiteetistä ei ole. Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää millainen Eko-Viikin asukkaiden paikkaidentiteetti on sekä millaista on eko-viikkiläisten ympäristövastuullinen käyttäytyminen. Lisäksi pohditaan paikkaidentiteetin ja ympäristövastuullisen käyttäytymisen yhteyttä ekoasuinalueen kontekstissa. Tutkielman viitekehyksenä käytetään paikkaidentiteetin osalta rakenneyhtälömallia, jossa paikkaidentiteetti rakentuu paikkaan sitoutumisesta sekä siihen vaikuttavista viidestä osa-alueesta: kiintymys, henkilökohtaisen menneisyyden jatkuvuus, tuttuuden tunne, sosiaalinen hyväksyttävyys ja yhteenkuuluvuus. Mallin mukaan paikkaidentiteetti vaikuttaa sekä itsenäisesti että asenteiden kautta ympäristövastuulliseen käyttäytymiseen. Ympäristövastuullista käyttäytymistä tarkastellaan kolmen suurimman yksilön ympäristövaikutuksia synnyttävän toiminnan, eli asumisen, liikkumisen ja syömisen, kautta. Tutkielman aineistona on seitsemän kasvokkain ja kaksi puhelimitse tehtyä puolistrukturoitua teemahaastattelua sekä yksi sähköpostihaastattelu. Asukkaiden paikkaidentiteettiin liittyen metodiksi on valittu teoriasidonnainen sisällönanalyysi, jossa keskitytään paikkaidentiteetin muodostaviin osatekijöihin teoriaan pohjautuen. Asukkaiden ympäristökäyttäytymistä analysoidaan aineistolähtöisesti sisällönanalyysiä hyväksi käyttäen. Tulosten perusteella haastateltavien paikkaidentiteettiä määrittää paikkaidentiteetin osa-alueista eniten kiintymys, henkilökohtaisen menneisyyden jatkuvuus, tuttuuden tunne sekä yhteenkuuluvuus. Haastateltavat ovat selvän kiintyneitä asuinalueeseensa eivätkä haluaisi muuttaa sieltä pois. Erityisesti alueen luonnonläheisyyttä sekä naapurisuhteita arvostetaan. Lisäksi alue on ollut haastateltaville tuttu jo ennen sinne muuttoa ja monet ovat haaveilleet alueella asumisesta. Alue näkyy haastateltavien menneisyydessä, nykyhetkessä sekä tulevaisuuden suunnitelmissa. Eko-Viikin asukkaiden joukosta löytyi neljä ympäristökäyttäytymisen tyyppiä: Realisti, Tunnollinen, Liioittelija ja Vähättelijä. Realisti ei itse koe käyttäytyvänsä ympäristövastuullisesti eikä hänen kuvailemansa teotkaan puhu ympäristövastuullisuuden puolesta. Tunnollinen kokee itse käyttäytyvänsä ympäristövastuullisesti ja hänen kuvailemansa ympäristökäyttäytyminen tukee tätä kokemusta. Liioittelija kokee itse käyttäytyvänsä ympäristövastuullisesti, mutta hänen kuvailemansa ympäristökäyttäytyminen ei tue kokemusta. Vähättelijä ei koe käyttäytyvänsä riittävän ympäristövastuullisesti, mutta hänen kuvailemansa käyttäytyminen ei vastaa tätä kokemusta. Puolet haastatelluista kokee asumisen Eko-Viikissä vaikuttaneen heidän ympäristökäyttäytymiseen vähintään jonkin verran, mutta syitä tähän ei osata kertoa. Puolet haastatelluista ei koe Eko-Viikin vaikuttaneen lainkaan. Suurin osa heistä, jotka kokevat alueen vaikuttaneen käyttäytymiseensä, kuuluvat Realisteihin tai Liioittelijoihin, kun taas suurin osa heistä, jotka eivät koe alueen vaikuttaneen omaan ympäristökäyttäytymiseen kuuluvat Tunnollisiin ja Vähättelijöihin. Tulevaisuudessa olisi tärkeää seurantatutkimuksen keinoin saada selville, vaikuttaako ekoasuinalueella asuminen siellä asuvien ihmisten ympäristökäyttäytymiseen positiivisesti ja aiheutuuko tämä muutos asuinalueeseen syntyneestä paikkaidentiteetistä. Lisäksi vertailevaa tutkimusta ekoasuinalueiden sekä niin sanottujen tavanomaisten asuinalueiden välillä tarvitaan, jotta on mahdollista selvittää, vaikuttaako ekoasuinalueeseen syntynyt paikkaidentiteetti siellä asuvien ympäristökäyttäytymiseen voimakkaammin kuin tavanomaiseen asuinalueeseen syntynyt paikkaidentiteetti.Changing human behaviour has an important role in solving the planet’s environmental crisis. Neither technological innovations nor political incentives have any effect if people don’t start using them or just direct the saved resources into another environmentally harmful activity. In addition, cities account for most of the energy related carbon dioxide emissions already today and the populations in cities continue growing. Hence, we have to find ways of enhancing environmentally responsible human behaviour comprehensively. Place identity has been noticed to have a positive effect on environmental behavior. However, there is no research on the place identity of sustainable neighbourhoods. This master’s thesis’ aim is to find out what is the place identity and environmentally responsible behaviour like in a sustainable neighbourhood of Eko-Viikki. And to reflect the relationship of place identity and environmentally responsible behaviour in in the context of sustainable neighbourhoods. The framework for the place identity part of the thesis is a structural equation model where place identity is formed through commitment to place and five dimensions that impact commitment to place: attachment, continuity with personal past, perception of familiarity, cohesion and social acceptance. The model indicates that place identity affects people’s environmentally responsible behavior both independently and through attitudes. Environmentally responsible behaviour is examined through three human activities that have the biggest impact on the environment: housing, transportation and eating. The data of the thesis is nine semistructured theme interviews and one email interview. The data was analysed by qualitative content analysis using the dimensions of place identity and the three activities with the biggest impact on the environment. The results suggest that attachment, continuity with personal past, perception of familiarity and cohesion define the place identity of the interviewees the most. The interviewees are clearly attached to their neighbourhood and would like to live there as long as possible. Neighbourhood’s closeness to nature and neighbour relations are valued the most. Additionally, the interviewees have known the neighbourhood already before choosing to move there and many have dreamt of living there one day. The neighbourhood has its part in the past, present and future of the interviewees. Furthermore, four types of environmental behaviour were identified: The Realist, the Diligent, the Overestimator and the Underestimator. The Realist doesn’t perceive their behaviour as environmentally responsible and their described behaviour matches the perception. The Diligent perceives their behaviour as environmentally responsible and their described behaviour also matches the perception. The Overestimator perceives their behaviour as environmentally responsible but the described behaviour doesn’t match the perception. The Underestimator doesn’t perceive their behaviour as environmentally responsible enough but the described behaviour also doesn’t match the perception. Half of the interviewees think that the neighbourhood has had a positive effect on their environmental behavior at least to some extent but have no examples to show. The other half doesn’t think the neighbourhood has had any effects. Most of the interviewees that think the neighbourhood has had a positive effect on their behaviour are either Realists or Overestimators whereas most of the interviewees that don’t think the neighbourhood has had an effect are Diligents and Underestimators. In the future, more research is needed to examine the relationship of the place identity in sustainable neighbourhoods and environmental behaviour. Future research should focus on finding out if living in a sustainable neighbourhood has an effect on the residents’ environmental behaviour and if the effect is caused by their place identity. In addition, comparative research between sustainable neighbourhoods and so called ordinary neighbourhoods is needed to find out if there is a difference in how the place identity of a sustainable neighbourhood affects the behaviour compared to the place identity of a so called ordinary neighbourhood

Exploring and Re-envisioning the Significance of Agrarian Consciousness in Theology with Specific Reference to Kerala

Globalization has a great impact on present-day society. Everything and everyone relates to each other based on market value. The commodification of agriculture and food has led the world into a situation where one lacks intimacy and bond in the relationship. The impact of globalization has influenced the present Kerala community. The monocultural systems of globalization have influenced the community which has led the Kerala society into a commodified society. The commodification of agriculture and food has influenced the patterns of relationships in the Kerala society, especially in their ecological, human, and spiritual relationship. God did not create a world that is uniform and monocultural. The universe that God created is diverse and multicultural. However, a person who is born and brought up in a particular place and culture can experience God in its fullness in that place and culture in its unique diversity. The agrarian consciousness which was central to the social, religious, cultural, spiritual, and psychological life of Kerala society is declining. However, it is essential to re-envision the agrarian consciousness in Kerala society that can help to develop a theology based on the indigenous epistemologies and practices of the region and thereby help to support a society based on an agrarian living eco-system. Through this thesis, I try to focus on the importance of regaining the lost values of the agrarian eco-system of Kerala where they valued life in the living organism and related to everyone and everything with love. It is an attempt to delink the principles of monoculture and commercialized consciousness of Kerala society and to relink to the agrarian consciousness where they understand life in its particularity and fullness. The globalized monoculture commodifies human beings and places whereas the agrarian consciousness respects and interacts with other human beings and places. I am critically evaluating the globalized monoculture which is the dominant culture of the present world by making a cross-evaluation of the global culture and local culture

Tulevaisuuden tutkimuskeskuksen valittuja opiskelijatöitä 2018-2019

We have the pleasure inviting you to have look at the inspired and inspiring picks from the student essays written by students and student groups in the courses organised by Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC). This is already the forth volume of our Coolest Student Papers series. The reason for publishing student papers is that as teachers of the courses we have many times thought that with some edition of a student essay they could get a real article published, but students seldom do this, even if they would be encouraged. Such a shame! We established Coolest Student Papers as a lower threshold forum for publishing these very good texts, some of which are of scholarly calibre. Once again this year’s selection shows that brilliant new students arrive our courses. We wish to reward their hard work in their intellectual endeavour by publishing their essays. The topics range from sustainability transitions to corporate foresight, from ethics to methodology and cultural sustainability. Independent, constructively critical open deliberation of how futures studies should be carried out is one of the core goals of our education and a key to further development of the courses and the whole field of futures studies. The volume is divided to sections by the courses. Each section begins with an evaluation made by the teacher after which the student essay(s) follow(s). There are 16 essays in total of which four are written in Finnish language. The Sustainable Development minor and the Futures Studies minor are offered in Finnish. The essays in English at the beginning of the volume are from the international Master’s Degree Programme of Futures Studies. Our PhD programme essays are excluded as we expect postgraduates to aim directly at journal articles. Dear Reader, we wish you the joy of looking at the field of futures studies from the student viewpoint. Have a nice journey

Lindude põgenemiskäitumine erineva kisklusriskiga olukordades: terviklikum käsitlus

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneSuurema hirmutunde korral panustavad loomad enam aega valvsusele ja ohtu silmates põgenevad varem. Inimene võib oma tegevustega tahtmatult loomade hirmutunnet suurendada, põhjustades halbu käitumisotsuseid ja populatsiooni arvukuse langust. Loomade hirmutunde hindamiseks mõõdetakse enamasti kas nende valvsust või põgenemiskaugust. Doktoritöös uuriti, kas üheainsa käitumispõhise indikaatori mõõtmisest siiski piisab, et lindude hirmutunnet ja põgenemisega seotud kulutusi veenvalt hinnata. Lisaks selgitati, kas linnud jätkavad kiskja jälgimist veel ka põgenemise ajal ja milliseid lisategureid tuleks põgenemiskäitumise uurimisel arvesse võtta. Doktoritöö raames uuriti standardiseeritud viisil kümnete linnuliikide põgenemiskäitumist mitmel pool üle Euroopa, et tuvastada üldisi trende lindude käitumismustrites. Põgenemiskäitumise poolest olid linnalinnud mitmes mõttes julgemad kui maalinnud ning laiuskraadi kasvades muutusid linnud vähem ettevaatlikuks. Üllatuslikult olid linnalinnud valvsamad kui maalinnud ning vastupidiselt varem eeldatule viivitasid valvsamad linnud mõlemas elupaigas põgenemisega kauem. Need tulemused seavad valvsuse tavapärase kasutatavuse lindude hirmutunde kirjeldamiseks kahtluse alla. Tööst ilmnes veel, et lisaks enamasti uuritavale põgenemiskaugusele tuleks mõõta ka põgenemishetkele järgnevaid käitumismustreid. Need täiendavad mõõtmised annavad terviklikuma ülevaate põgenemisega seotud ajalistest ja energeetilistest kulutustest, mis omakorda aitab kaasa põgenemisotsuste mõistmisele. Näiteks leiti, et põgenemisele kulutatud aeg sõltub hirmutunde dünaamikast põgenemise ajal. See on esimene eksperimentaalne tõend, et linnud jätkavad kiskja jälgimist ka pärast põgenemise alustamist. Doktoritöö tulemused toetasid ka varasemaid uuringuid, mis on leidnud, et põgenemisotsuseid mõjutavad ka näiteks liigiomane kehamass, peidupaiga lähedus ja seltsingu suurus. Doktoritööst saadud teadmised aitavad paremini ennustada, kuidas lindude hirmutunne võib inimtekkeliste häiringutega seoses muutuda, mis omakorda aitab kaasa looduskaitseliste meetmete planeerimisele.Animals with higher levels of fearfulness will spend more time being vigilant and will escape earlier after having spotted a potential threat. Human-caused disturbances can involuntarily increase fearfulness in animals, which can result in inaccurate behavioural decisions that can lead to population declines. The most common measures of fearfulness in animals are vigilance and flight initiation distance. Present thesis examined whether the use of a single behavioural indicator is enough to assess fearfulness and costs related to escape. The thesis also investigated whether birds continue to monitor predators during escape, and which other factors should be considered when studying escape behaviour. Tens of bird species were studied across Europe in a standardized way to find general patterns in the behaviour of birds. Urban birds were characterized by a more relaxed escape behaviour than rural birds. In addition, birds took longer to become alert to threats as latitude increased. Surprisingly, urban birds were more vigilant than rural birds, and, contrary to the prevalent theory, vigilant birds delayed escape more. These results raise doubt whether vigilance should be used as an indicator of fearfulness in birds. The thesis also highlighted that in addition to measuring flight initiation distance, it is important to measure subsequent behavioural decisions. Doing so provides a more complete view of the energetic and opportunity costs of escape, which helps to understand escape-related decisions. For example, it was found that escape duration depends on how the perceived risk of predation changes while fleeing. That is the first experimental evidence that birds continue to monitor predators after initiating escape. Last, the evidence from the thesis complements previous research that, for example, has found body mass, distance to refuge, and group size to influence escape decisions in animals. The knowledge gained from the thesis improves predictions about the impact of human-caused disturbances on fearfulness in birds, which in turn benefits decision making in wildlife management.https://www.ester.ee/record=b529839