ALBERT

Description: We examine roles and knowledge by which researchers can enhance connections between science, policy, and society. We arranged a participatory scenario workshop with representatives from environmental administration to discuss how different land-use governance arrangements link to sustainability of reindeer herding in northern Finland. We used fast track scenarios as boundary objects that aimed to bring reindeer herders’ problem definitions to be discussed with administrators. First, we performed the role of science arbiter by using our previous research with reindeer herders as the starting point for the discussions. Next, we discussed and elaborated diverse future alternatives via the role of honest broker. Finally, we were interpreted as issue advocates because the scenario exercise reduced the scope of preferable policy options for administrators. Performing these boundary-spanning roles in the same process, but each, in turn, enables researchers to offer views on sustainability via scenarios that break easily acceptable conventions.

Description: In recent decades, the mining industry has expanded globally especially in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Mines often boost rural economies, but may have also negative impacts on environment and local livelihoods, such as tourism and reindeer herding. That is why acceptability and undeniable right to operate – the social licence (SL) to mine has become more and more important in mining related discussions. We examine empirically issues relating to SL in two mining projects in Finnish Lapland, Hannukainen in Kolari and Suurikuusikko in Kittilä. The main results emphasise the importance of transparency in mining operations and the continuity of communications with local stakeholders in building and maintaining the SL to mine. If the transparency of operations is lacking and issues come to publicity only via the media, this may affect the public image of a company and finally challenge its SL to operate and, in the long term, potentially effect the financing decisions of mining investors. We show that acquiring and keeping up a SL links not only to the developments in the actual mining site, but is also connected to processes taking place in other localities. These connections may emerge in various scales; between various local communities, mining companies and global financing principles, for instance. We use and propose ‘multi-sited ethnography’ as a method to describe and better understand complex linkages which may effect the SL to mine.

Description: Reindeer herding is a culturally and economically significant livelihood of local communities in the circumpolar North, strongly depending on environmental conditions. Providing climate information for such a target group requires brining together local knowledge and climate model projections.In this study, information collected in interviews with reindeer herders on what makes a year good or bad for them (critical conditions) was used as a basis for defining indices that can be calculated from climate model projections. In this process, we associated the critical condition to meteorological variables, for example “temperatures above 20°C in June and July” were related to an index tasmax20, which counts the number of days in June and July with daily maximum temperatures above 20°C. In this way, we identified three types of critical conditions/indices (1) indices that can be calculated relatively easily, some of them conforming to climate extreme indices common in climate change analysis; (2) indices that need either more specific information from herders (eg to make a condition “July and August should not be cold”, a specific definition of “cold” is needed) or scientific background knowledge (e.g. “abundance of mosquitos” needs information on the necessary meteorological variables and their thresholds) so they can be calculated; and (3) indices that cannot be calculated from the output climate models commonly provide, because they require for example variables like daily soil temperature (rain on frozen ground) or river ice.We have focussed our analysis on Fennoscandia and northwestern Russia, using data from the CMIP6, EURO CORDEX and Polar CORDEX data bases to calculate in a first step indices from category (1) for different RCP futures. For example, exposure multiplication factors reveal that for tasmax20, increases by the end of the century are up to a factor of 10 for RCP4.5 and a factor of 20 for RCP8.5, with obvious latitudinal patterns.

Description: The Arctic is experiencing rapid and interlinked socio-environmental changes. Therefore, governance approaches that take the complex interactions between climate change, biodiversity loss, increasing land use pressures, and local livelihoods into account are needed: nexus approaches. However, an overview of whether and to what extent Arctic policies address these nexus elements in concert has been missing. Here we analyzed a large sample of publicly available assessment reports and policy documents from the terrestrial European Arctic. Our results show that, although nexus approaches are widely adopted in Arctic policy reporting, the emphasis varies among the governance levels, and documents underestimate certain interactions: local communities and traditional livelihoods are seldom seen as actors with agency and impact. Practical implementations were identified as potential advancements in Arctic governance: ecosystem-specific, technological, and authoritative solutions; co-production of knowledge; and adaptive co-management. Implementation of nexus approaches can promote more holistic environmental governance and guide cross-sectoral policies.

Description: In this article, we identify what herders in Fennoscandia and northwestern Russia see as critical conditions and events in the annual reindeer herding cycle. Indigenous Sámi and Yamal reindeer herders identify eight seasons, each of which has crucial importance in its own way. Differences in perception between Fennoscandian and northwestern Russian reindeer herders about good and bad seasonal conditions are based on the degree of climatic and geographic variation, herd control and the variety of simultaneous pressures on pastures. The scope and speed of ongoing climate change in the Arctic will profoundly modify these conditions, and consequently shape critical events and outcomes in reindeer herding. The resulting challenges need to be assessed in the context of social and economic dynamics. Reindeer herders throughout Fennoscandia and Russia are concerned about future prospects of their livelihood. To adapt to climate change and develop new strategies, reindeer herders must have access to pastures; they must retain their mobility and flexibility; and their participation in land-use decisions must be endorsed.