Social-Ecological Transformations: HUMan-ANimal Relations Under Climate Change in NORthern Eurasia

Climate warming will instigate societal transformations in the 21st century. The Arctic has undergone profound climatic fluctuations in past centuries, when indigenous Saami, Nenets and Evenki shifted from hunters to herders. People and wild or semi-domestic reindeer have maintained a constant presence in the northern taiga and tundra zones from Fennoscandia to Eastern Siberia. Some indigenous social-ecological systems (SESs) have proven resilient in space and time, yet most are considered at risk. With the Arctic warming faster than lower latitudes, there is an urgent need to increase our understanding of response capacities locally, regionally and internationally. This calls for a long-term perspective to place human-animal relations in their respective contexts. In recent decades and centuries drivers of social-ecological transformations have gone beyond climate variation to encompass land use change, governance institutions, legislation and markets. An ancient livelihood still practiced across vast areas of N Eurasia, reindeer herding is a nexus for feedbacks between humans, animals and environment. Truly integrative studies on societal transformation in reindeer-related SESs across several scales and sectors can provide key insights into humans as active agents or passive receptors of change. Through historical analysis we aim at identifying valuable knowledge for today's pastoralists. What have been important drivers for change and what have been successful strategies for adaption to changes? We work in three areas; 1. In Mongolia pastoralists have a long record in dealing with extreme weather events. We map existing knowledge among pastoralists related to how they traditionally have managed through interviews and participatory mapping, 2. At the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia, the Nenets people are facing major climatic and societal challenges to their nomadic life style. In addition, the traditional knowledge transfer between generations is challenged, due to children spending most of the year at boarding schools far away from the traditional nomadic life. We identify strategies for knowledge transfer and how they manage to equip younger generations to a nomadic life. 3. Sami reindeer herders historic land use has resulted in a landscape rich on archaeological monuments and sites in the Finnmark landscapes. Through a combination of participatory mapping and archaeological surveying we map and analyse key drivers for changes in historic land use. Most of our attention is focused on how changes in land use, human-animal relations, and patterns of social interaction contribute to adaptation.In all three sub-projects, close collaboration with the local community and stakeholder?s participation in data collection and interpretation has been a key factor. In order to succeed in mapping and explaining what lies behind changes in local communities their participation is crucial. The three sub-projects have been closely related to small communities within their respective major regions. The research has given new insights on how these individual societies have met socio-economic and climatic factors based on orally transferred local knowledge. The socio-economic changes have been the most important driver for changes, especially in Norway and Russia. However, climate change has, over the last decade, become a factor that causes rapid changes. In Mongolia, there has been a greater combination of climatic and socio-economic changes which intermingle in systemic changes, but the socio-economic changes are more important because they frame the context in which adaptation to climate change is possible.

Det er framskaffet ny kunnskap gjennom deltagende forskning hvor lokal kunnskap om historiske tilpassningsstragier er dokumentert. Arbeidet er basert på deltagende forskning hvor medlemmer fra lokalsamfunnene har vært aktivt med i datainnsamling samt vurdering og tolkning av årsakssammenhenger. For lokalsamfunnene som har deltatt i arbeidet kan slike prosesser bidra til økt selverkjennelse av viktigheten og verdien av deres egen kompetanse i relasjon til viktige utfordringer nå og i framtiden både for dem selv og andre med lignende forhold. På sikt kan detaljstudier som disse være viktige bidrag i arbeidet med å bygge opp robuste strategier for å håndtere endringsprosesser i framtiden.

Climate warming will instigate societal transformations in the 21st century. The Arctic has undergone profound climatic fluctuations in past centuries, when indigenous Saami, Nenets and Evenki shifted from hunters to herders. People and wild or semi-domestic reindeer have maintained a constant presence in the northern taiga and tundra zones from Fennoscandia to Eastern Siberia. Some indigenous social-ecological systems (SESs) have proven resilient in space and time, yet most are considered at risk. With the Arctic warming faster than lower latitudes, there is an urgent need to increase our understanding of response capacities locally, regionally and internationally. This calls for a long-term perspective to place human-animal relations in their respective contexts. In recent decades and centuries drivers of social-ecological transformations have gone beyond climate variation to encompass land use change, governance institutions, legislation and markets. An ancient livelihood still practiced across vast areas of N Eurasia, reindeer herding is a nexus for feedbacks between humans, animals and environment. Truly integrative studies on societal transformation in reindeer-related SESs across several scales and sectors can provide key insights into humans as active agents or passive receptors of change. Comparative analyses in the post-WWII era are needed for innovative solutions to complex SESs experiencing multiple stresses. Even at low human population densities, large reindeer herds can alter ecosystem structure and function. Projecting future transformations requires the retrospective partitioning of: (1)socio-economic and political from climate drivers over decadal scales; and (2) human-animal agency from climate drivers over centennial scales. Robust analyses must: (1) be made in contrasting SESs across diverse geographic scales; and (2) account for heterogeneous perceptions of risk concerning the future viability of reindeer herding in the European Research Area