Exchanging Knowledge of Monitoring Practices Between Finland and Greenland
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Deepening Voices - eXchanging Knowledge of Monitoring Practices between Finland and Greenland Lead Author: Tero Mustonen Contributing Authors: Vladimir Feodoroff, Pauliina Feodoroff, Aqqalu Olsen, Per Ole Fredriksen, Kaisu Mustonen, Finn Danielsen, Nette Levermann, Augusta Jeremiassen, Helle T. Christensen, Bjarne Lyberth, Paviarak Jakobsen, Simone Gress Hansen and Johanna Roto Contents 1. eXchanging Knowledge . 3 4. Deepening Methods: 1.1. Monitoring traditional ecological knowledge in the North Atlantic and Why Do We Monitor, Where and What Impact Does It Have . 35 European Arctic Communities . 5 4.1. Improving Communications Through Video Projects . 37 2. The pilot projects . 7 5. Next Steps and Recommendations . 40 2.1 PISUNA in Greenland . 8 2.2 Lessons learned in Greenland . 9 References . 44 2.3 Jukajoki in Finland . 11 Appendix 1: Workshop Participants . 45 2.4 Lessons learned in the boreal . 13 Appendix 2: Summaries of the Report in . 46 2.5 Näätämö River in Skolt Sámi Area, Finland . 14 English . 47 2.6 Lessons learned amongst the Skolts . 16 Finnish . 48 Danish . 49 3. Results from the Aasiaat Workshop by Knowledge Holders, Greenlandic . 50 Scientists and Managers . 17 3.1. Main messages from the Workshop, 5th to 8th December, 2017 . 18 3.2. Ocean Change: At the Ice Edge . 27 . 3.3. Sharing Traditions: Joint Cooking . 30 3.4. Meeting the Future Elders: School Visit . 32 3.5. Example of a Seasonal Harvest . 34 Cover photo: Glacier east of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. All report photos: Snowchange, 2018, unless otherwise stated. Layout: Eero Murtomäki and Rita Lukkarinen, 2018 Disclaimer: Best possible efforts have been taken to ensure the www.lumi.fi documentation of views from the workshops, but authors are responsible for any mistakes left in the text. The individual views www.snowchange.org expressed do not reflect the position of the Nordic Council of Ministers. Indigenous and local community participants have reviewed their statements following the principles of FPIC-Free, Prior, Informed Consent. 2 1. eXchanging Knowledge Aqqalu arriving in Aasiaat harbour. 3 eXchanging Knowledge is a two-year project and proposing management actions about the tively Finland, Lapland and Greenland. The running in 2017 and 2018 with the aim of pro- living resources in NW Greenland, while the approach taken is that the local communities viding a platform for cross-cultural exchanges Skolt Sámis and the Finnish fishermen of Selkie decide, steer and guide the project activities, of Indigenous and local knowledge between have led the first-ever fully locally-led restora- whereas Snowchange, NORDECO and APN Finland, Finnish Sámi areas and Greenland. tion and management projects in Finnish history provide a bridge from the world of conventional on a catchment-wide scales. science and the authorities to the knowledge It is a partnership between local Greenlandic, held by the Indigenous peoples and locals. Sámi and Finnish communities, Greenlandic Thus all groups are experts within community- Ministry of Fisheries and Institute of Biological based monitoring and management3 and have Involvement of Indigenous and local knowledge Resources, Danish NGO NORDECO and Finn- already succeeded in developing practical pro- in science and decision-making can enable ish NGO Snowchange Cooperative1. Thanks to cedures and have gotten plenty experiences European Arctic and boreal communities to Nordic Council of Ministers Arctic Programme, with what works and what does not. The results promote concrete and realistic solutions to en- a new style of cultural exchange project was from all projects have been recognized in me- vironmental and development challenges. The established. The authors, organisers and partic- dia, international scientific literature and nation- exchange of knowledge amongst different CBM ipants are very thankful to NCM and all people al and international policy documents, and they projects contributes to capacity building for all who supported this project. can be considered pilot studies for successful parties involved, and it is envisaged eventually community based monitoring projects in the to lead to more innovative and successful gov- In December 2017 a group of Skolt Sámi and European and North Atlantic Arctic and boreal. ernment and community initiatives in the future. Finnish fishermen travelled to Greenland for an exchange visit with local hunters and fishermen The plan is to repeat the exchange in Finland in Aasiaat, Northwestern Greenland. Here the in 2018, where the fishers and hunters from Sámi and Finns learnt more about the Kalaallit/ Greenland will visit Selkie in North Karelia and Greenlandic ways and methods of conducting Sevettijärvi in Lapland to gain first-hand experi- community-based monitoring2 and manage- ence with the Finnish and Skolt Sámi manage- ment. ment and river restoration projects - projects that have actually adapted some of the meth- The aim of the exchange is to learn from each ods from the Greenlandic project. other in order to discuss best practices, lessons learned and possibly develop new methods for Two research and cultural organisations, Snow- doing community-based monitoring. The Green- change Cooperative from Finland, and NOR- landic hunters and fishermen are together with DECO4 from Denmark together with the Min- the municipality and the government running a istry of Fisheries and Hunting, Government of promising locally-driven observation and man- Greenland (APN), are facilitating the exchange agement project that is generating knowledge of knowledge between local partners in respec- Nuunuq ready to depart out to the sea. 1 3 2 Non-profit organisation 4 CBM- observation and data collection undertaken by locals, in Greenland called documentation or observing, not used for subsequent management actions monitoring Nordic Foundation for Development and Ecology 4 eXchanging Knowledge provides a unique op- Traditional knowledge - TEK can be defined logistically difficult and relatively costly. Much is portunity for the stakeholders such as hunters, in many ways. Here we use the definition that still unknown about the mechanisms controlling fishermen, scientists and the authorities to be TEK is the cumulative body of knowledge held the changing ecosystems, and how communi- involved first-hand in the exchange of knowl- by community members due to long affiliations ties and the society should respond14. Com- edge and practice. to specific landscapes and generational trans- munity based monitoring surpasses these chal- mission . The term “knowledge” refers to the lengers and is even bringing new knowledge to myriad of9 intertwined components such as ex- research, and potentially to resource manage- periences, rituals, worldview, social and family ment and if needed, community-led ecological 1.1. Monitoring traditional institution, language, traditional land and natu- restoration practices. ecological knowledge in the ral resource use to name a few examples. All European Arctic Communities of the above make TEK, or Indigenous knowl- Earlier there has been limited interest in using edge a holistic approach. TEK for informing government resource man- Community-based monitoring is the process of 10 agement decisions in the Arctic15. However, monitoring and communicating local and tradi- TEK and its holders now are increasingly seen during recent years, in the search for ways to tional ecological knowledge5. It is undertaken as a valuable partners and co-researchers in adapt to environmental perturbations, more re- by local stakeholders using their own resources improving the understanding of the changing searchers and government agencies have be- and in relation to aims and objectives that make ecosystems11. Thus the use of TEK can play gun to see TEK as an important tool, and some sense to them6. This method is nothing new. Lo- a vital role in climate change assessment and have started systematizing and analysing this cal fishermen, hunters and gathers undertake adaptation efforts12. At its best it also addresses knowledge in order to incorporate TEK into nat- on-the-job observations of the environment all past equity issues and colonial legacies of sci- ural resource management and policy-making year round7. ence. By positioning Indigenous and local com- decisions. munity people as co-researchers a symmetrical The local and Indigenous communities are dialogue is possible on knowledge production. The use of TEK enables local people knowing often the first to spot the sometimes subtle TEK in this case is not seen only as a resource, the landscapes and having first-hand knowl- changes in the environment. Governments but a vibrant, dynamic way of knowing as rel- edge of the resources to be listened to and to have begun to view local and indigenous peo- evant as science. propose management interventions and thereby ple and their knowledge of the land as an ‘early to contribute to practical natural resource man- warning’ system for environmental change. In Professional scientists have been monitoring agement. Local people emerge from targets of this perspective, local and indigenous people the environment for decades13. Conventional research into active agents of monitoring and can be considered global warmings’ canaries in scientific monitoring in the Arctic is however research in a symmetrical partnership with sci- the mine8. ence institutions. 9 Today, there is an increasing number of organi- 10 Mustonen 2015 sations working on promoting the collaboration 5 A vast literature exists on the varied