Adaptation Actions for a Changing Arctic: Perspectives from the Barents Area

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Chapter 7 · Indigenous peoples’ perspectives

7.4.3 Education – new tools for the future A new kind of education is needed in the North, one that incorporates multidisciplinary, multicultural, and holistic approaches to sustainable development.Scientific and traditional experience-based knowledge, knowledge transformation, education, gender equity and the training of future Arctic leaders are key factors in the future sustainability of societies. Directly engaging indigenous youth in traditional practices and providing enhanced education are important factors in this sustainability and its cultural foundations (Gávnnadeapmi, 2015). To strengthen adaptation to climate change, local Arctic leaders within indigenous communities as well as mainstream society,must be trained in long-term sustainable thinking.This educational goal must be based on the best available knowledge about adaptation. Technology offers new means of delivering education to practitioners of traditional livelihoods, especially those in remote areas. “From the reindeer herding youth’s perspective, there is need to both integrate traditional knowledge into education and also include training about international and national law and governance pertaining to reindeer husbandry in education programs. Also, more cooperation with other reindeer herding peoples’ is needed…We need more information about the ways of participating in decision- making and the mechanisms to protect our livelihoods from outside infringements. This could be done by organizing training tailored for reindeer herding youth about relevant national legislation and international human rights mechanisms.” Anne-MariaMagga (EALLIN,2015:29&35) 7.5 Conclusions Although written thirty years ago, the strong language within the UN report Our Common Future is still relevant, yet remains largely unacted upon: “Tribal and Indigenous Peoples will need special attention as the forces of economic development disrupt their traditional lifestyles – lifestyles that can offer modern societies many lessons in the management of resources in complex forest, mountain, and dry-land ecosystems.Their traditional rights should be recognized and they should be given a decisive voice in formulating policies about resource development in their areas” (Brundtland, 1987) According to the IPCC, while Arctic indigenous peoples with traditional lifestyles are facing unprecedented impacts from climate change and resource development (oil and gas, mining, forestry, hydropower, tourism, etc.), they are already implementing creative ways of adapting (Nymand Larsen et al., 2014). Examples include changing resource bases, shifting land use and/or settlement areas, combining technologies with traditional knowledge, changing the timing and location of hunting, gathering, herding, and fishing, and improving communications and education. The impetus to include traditional knowledge has not only come from indigenous communities: the International Polar Year resulted in a clear mandate for the inclusion of Arctic indigenous knowledge, and members of Arctic indigenous communities contributed to the drafting of the fifth IPCC assessment report.

maximizing the use of current knowledge for better land-use decisions, using collaboratively developed tools and strategies through a pGIS has enhanced stakeholders’ mutual learning and adaptive capacities. 7.4.2 Supporting indigenous languages The health of the indigenous peoples’ language is critical, because embedded within the language are the ways and means to survive and thrive on the land, and to relate to the animals upon which people depend. Language is central to identity. However, the vibrancy of the language in question is not just related to traditional livelihoods, and any steps that help support indigenous languages in a region will assist in building community confidence and resilience. The Sámi language is especially rich in terms related to reindeer (Eira, 1994). “If there is no reindeer,indigenous languages will disappear! When people leave traditional occupations, the language will be forgotten. Reindeer are the very foundation of reindeer peoples’ universe.” Arkadiy Gashilov, EALLIN (2015:24) While Sámi in all regions of Sápmi have experienced strong assimilation processes particularly since the Second World War, it is also true that recent decades have seen a period of resurgence of Sámi language, identity, pride and recognition to varying degrees in the countries in which they reside.This is less true in the Russian part of Sápmi and is not true in all regions of Sápmi. According to the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger (Mosely, 2010), as of 28 February 2016 some languages in the southern parts of Sápmi are critically endangered with only handfuls of speakers – in Sweden, the Ume and Pite Sámi languages are also critically endangered. The same is true of Skolt and Inari Sámi languages in Finland, whose speakers number in the low hundreds and are definitely endangered. The Kildin and Ter Sámi languages of the Kola Peninsula are also critically endangered. Even ‘North Sámi’, the most widely spoken Sámi language in Norway, Sweden and Finland is listed as definitely endangered by UNESCO. Language is key, because it is central to a peoples identity and in terms of traditional livelihoods (e.g. freshwater and coastal fishing, reindeer herding), a vibrant language is a crucial element of a thriving livelihood. Use of indigenous languages in the Russian sector of the Barents area has been less well studied, however the Vepsian (severely endangered), Karelian and Nenets (definitely endangered) languages are all in trouble (Mosely, 2010). The knowledge and practice of reindeer herding, for example is embedded in the language such that language loss has a direct correlation to loss of practical skills and coping, and ultimately to biodiversity. It is interesting to note that where traditional livelihoods are most vibrant, the languages tend to be in a stronger position. For example, the North Sámi and Tundra Nenets languages are flourishing in the very places where reindeer herding is strongest: Finnmark and the Yamal Peninsula. Actively supporting indigenous languages is a critical piece of the puzzle if administrations in the Barents Region are committed to supporting indigenous peoples living a thriving and vibrant cultural practice.