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

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Chapter 8 · A resilien cepproac h to adaptat ion act

8.6.2 Way forward for resilience indicators: reflections from the case studies Although the resilience indicators framework has only been discussed here in relation to indigenous communities, in practice the framework could equally well be applied to any Arctic community. History, traditions, livelihood activities and connection to nature may differ widely between different communities in theArctic, but the application of the framework need not be limited by these factors. The true test for the type of framework proposed here is through a series of applications at the local level, with skilled facilitators and engaged community members. Here the key questions would focus on what the activities/categories represented in the case study template (see Table 8.3) mean to the community in concrete and tangible terms, and how the community itself would assess and indicate the general condition of these ingredients. Are diverse livelihood activities pursued in a given community? What is the balance between conventional and non-market livelihood activities? How is traditional or local knowledge perceived in comparison with conventional education and knowledge? Is there sufficient flexibility and support at the local level to pursue innovative responses to local and regional challenges? And if so, does the community possess the social cohesion and local practices required tomake use of this flexibility? The likely responses to these general questions, and the tangible terms andmetrics used to assess status and trends will probably vary from one community to the next depending on local circumstances. More general insights that could be derived from these responses are likely to be more comparable and generalizable at higher scales.And the assessment activity itself can be expected to constitute a resilience-building exercise as community members gain experience in engaging in these kinds of shared assessment process. AHDR, 2004.Arctic Human Development Report. Stefansson Arctic Institute, Akureyri, Iceland. Allen, C.R., D.G. Angeler, A.S. Garmestani, L.H. Gunderson and C.S. Holling, 2014. Panarchy: theory and application. Ecosystems, 17:578-589. Arctic Council, 2013. Arctic Resilience: Interim Report 2013. Stockholm Environment Institute and Stockholm Resilience Centre. Arctic Council, 2016. Arctic Resilience Report. M. Carson and G. Peterson (eds). Stockholm Environment Institute and Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm. Arora-Jonsson, S., 2016. Does resilience have a culture? Ecocultures and the politics of knowledge production. Ecological Economics, 121:98-107. Baez,J.E.,A.de la Fuente and I.Santos,2010.Do natural disasters affect human capital?An assessment based on existing empirical evidence. IZADiscussion Paper 5164. Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp5164.html. References

fish quality utilizing Sámi knowledge and science. This model contributes to addressing cross-scale issues in the Barents area between Finland and Norway and in the local context. Over the past 20 years,there have been threemajor changes in the overall governance context.These include the breakupof the Soviet Union, and Finland joining the European Union in the 1990s. This allowed Skolts to visit their traditional lands and re-instate contact with relatives in the former Soviet Union. It also provided for the expansion of Sámi rights, such as the creation of the Sámi Parliament.Between2001 and2009,therewas a rapiddevelopment of rights, language nests (an approach to language revitalization in which older speakers take part in early-childhood education), cultural organizations, and discourses to assert and mainstream indigenous rights.Since 2010,however,the Skolts have seen some erosion of this earlier progress. The government of Finland has shown less interest in considering further development of rights, with policies oriented towards natural resources perceived to be having a negative impact on theNäätämö basin and on Skolt Sámi resilience through infrastructure and potential mining. At the same time,however,the Skolts have implemented the very first co- management plan for theNäätämöwatershed.Their participation in discussions concerning the ratification of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, and seeing their Gramota edicts registered at UNESCO, has shifted their focus to international fora for cooperationwhile the domestic situation is considered less favorable.(The Indigenous andTribal Peoples Convention,1989 is an International Labour OrganizationConvention,also known as ILO-convention 169,or C169.It is themajor binding international convention concerning indigenous peoples, and a forerunner of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.) The Skolts are today seen to lead many discussions of the new indigenous self-governance in Finland. Their cultural identity continues to be supported by Sámi traditional indigenous governance, the siida system and the associated village council, and each family preserving a certain degree of autonomous decision-making. In addition to the village council there are powerful cultural associations, such as the Saa’mi Nue’tt. The reindeer-herding cooperatives of the region may also be seen as vehicles of limited self-governance. Knowledge gaps are a limiting factor for learning from the past to improve going forward. Climate change is considered a major driver of change in the Näätämö basin, but future impacts are still unclear. Research is needed to understand and document developments between 1948 and 1990, when many aspects of the basinweremanagedby stateorganizations,whichcreatedecological imbalances. Collecting the oral histories for the Skolts would help provide a more holistic view of developments in this period. The Skolt Sámi are a resilient people. Despite a very difficult period between 1917 and 1990 they survived, and since the 2000s have pursued many cutting-edge resilience initiatives. Although they are unable to influence macro-economic drivers such as mining and infrastructure projects directly, they have taken their case to the media and the research world, and have so far preserved their territories relatively intact.This is largely due to leadership by Sámi women, who have led the process.