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P-SAMISK-Program for samisk forskning

Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Planning and Environmental Decision Making: The Role of Community-Based Impact Assessments

Alternative title: Urfolks kunnskapssystemer, planlegging og beslutningsfatning i miljøsaker: rollen til lokalsamfunnsbaserte konsekvensanalyser

Awarded: NOK 5.7 mill.

In 2022, we have continued the work of analyzing the Nasafjell case. Among others a review of the consultation processes and the knowledge basis for the impact assessment processes is ongoing. The report Avtal mellan samebyar och exploatörer: Hur påverkas renens välmående by Rasmus Kløcker Larsen, Jannie Staffansson, Inger-Ann Omma og Rebecca Lawrence has been published in the Center for Sami Studies’ popular science journal. The evaluation was conducted from a Sámi perspective, applying a scale and a set of criteria focused on how the agreements affect the ability of herding districts to safeguard reindeer wellbeing. This report offers, for the first time, an evaluation of the content of a selection of agreements between Sámi reindeer herding districts and developers in Sweden. Indigenous scholar Jade Kennedy has developed an Aboriginal knowledge-based program based around Lake Illawarra, a coastal lake system in Wollongong, NSW, Australia. The program targets environmental and planning decision makers, conservation actors and scientists working around, and with, Lake Illawarra. Via a 13-week Aboriginal knowledge-based program, this cohort of actors were introduced to an Aboriginal Way of Knowing - a relational and generative way of knowing - that might enable an articulation and reimagining of their values in relationship to the Lake. The project ultimately sought to inform future decision making about the lake and thus address one of the key goals of this INDKNOW project – how to incorporate Aboriginal knowledge into environmental and land use planning decision making processes. This was also the focus of the international conference, arranged in Tromsø (also digital), in October 2022 with attendance from Australia, Norway and Sweden. Scholars at the project presented analysis from the ongoing IndKnow research: Cathrine Howlett and Jade Kennedy accounted for Moolawang Ngayagang Yanba – the Lake Illawarra project, Camilla Brattland lectured on Indigenous knowledge as a base for marine impact assessments and management, Charles Roche shared his experiences on challenges of comprehending local knowledges in the context of Papua New Guinea, Rasmus Kløcker Larsen accounted for the role of negotiated agreements in Sápmi: minor benefits at major costs, Else Grete Broderstad and Jens Toft talked about planning- and decision-making processes and impact assessments in the Nasa mountain case and Lena Gross further elaborated on this in the talk on politics of equivalences. Adding to this, the following guest lectures contributed: Anders J. H. Eira, Protect Sápmi, Torjer A.Olsen, UiT, Johan Strömgren, Norwegian National Human Rights Institution and Camilla Risvoll, Nordforsk. As an organizer and a keynote, IndKnow researcher Camilla Brattland attended the conference Indigneous Knowledge and Science to Empower Salmon and Salmon Peoples, in Vancouver, Canada in October 2022. In December 2022 the project co-arranged the seminar Vin og viten at Tromsø museum, with a search light on the knowledge base and expert knowledge on reindeer husbandry in wind power cases. Post doctor on the project Lena Gross has in 2022 contributed extensively with dissemination and focused on how knowledge is translated, how value gets assigned to some but not other features of the landscapes, and what is left out in environmental impact assessments.

En sentral oppnådd effekt er kvalifisering av post doktor Lena Gross, jf, utviklingsplan for post doktor stillingen. Prosjektet har støttet Charles Roches feltarbeid i Moroble provinsen i Papua New Guinea (PhD-arbeid), han disputerte i 2021 ved Murdoch University, Australia. Roche la en deltakende aksjonsforskningsmetodologi til grunn for arbeidet, denne innsikten vil inspirere bl.a. metodologiundervisningen av våre studenter. Prosjektet knyttet til seg en masterstudent som leverer oppgaven våren 2023. Studenten skriver om konsekvensutredningen og konsekvensanalysen i Nasafjell-saken. Prosjektet har dratt stor nytte av den innsikt som urfolkseksperter har delt med forskerne. I Nasafjell saken har samiske eksperter delt erfaringer om dialog og kommunikasjon med myndigheter og selskapet. De lokale deltakerne i Porsanger inkludert det samiske kunnskap og ressurssenteret Mearrasiida og i det lokale prosjektet «Nánusmáhttin» (Mearrasámi árbediehtu) har vært aktive deltakere og deltatt i prosjektplanlegging og datainnsamling og datadesign. Gjennom finansieringen fra TRACE og IndKnow har det vært mulig å lage datasett med oversikt over utmarksbruk og tradisjonell høsting av ressurser på land og i sjø (særlig i Porsanger) i nærområdene til informanter bosatt over hele Sørøya i Finnmark og i bygder i Nordkapp og Porsanger kommuner. Datasettene er allerede tilgjengelige som visningslag i kartapplikasjoner på nett gjennom UiTs ArcGIS lisens og kan gjøres tilgjengelige for nedlasting i offentlige kartportaler på sikt. To studenter ved Samfunnsplanlegging og kulturforståelse har vært engasjert som prosjektmedarbeidere for å vaske og tilrettelegge datasett og utvikle StoryMaps som formidling av datasettene. Urfolkskunnskapsprogrammet som er utviklet av urfolksforsker Jade Kennedy i tilknytning til Lake Illawarra prosjektet, vil inspirere nye prosjekter i Sápmi. Det samme gjelder Roches aksjonsforskningsmodell i Moroble, PNG. Tross Covid begrensninger når det gjelder reiser, har det internasjonale forskningsnettverket som prosjektet startet ut med blitt utvidet, prosjektet har trukket veksler på forskningssamarbeid i Australia, Canada og Sverige. Jade Kennedy - har besøkt Tromsø og bidratt utover forskningsprosjektet gjennom forelesninger på masterprogrammet i urfolksstudier. Cathrine Howlett har forelest for urfolksmasterstudenter om egne erfaringer med å inkorporere urfolkskunnskap i læreplaner og undervisning ved Southern Cross University, Australia. Den svenske deltakelsen i IndKnow har også ført til nye forskningsplaner om betydningen av forhandlinger og avtaler i urfolkskonteks. IndKnow har dratt store veksler på samarbeidet med TRACE prosjektet ledet av NIKU, Framsenteret. Innsikten fra IndKnow trekkes inn i og inspirerer andre forskningsprosjekter, eksempelvis CoastShift (Framsenteret), Future Arctic Lives (internasjonalt samarbeidsprosjekt), og prosjektet MADE (søknad sendt NFR) der IndKnow deltakerne Brattland og Gross deltar.

The proposed project seeks to address the gap between the lack of Indigenous peoples’ knowledges (IK) in planning, land-use and environmental decision-making and new ways of integrating IK by asking: by what means and methods can IK and rights be secured in marine and land-use planning decisions. The project endeavours to advance methodologies that can bridge this gap and develop best practice for the integration of IK through participatory GIS mapping technologies and community-based impact assessments (CBIA). We will draw upon examples of best practice in CBIA and will combine IK systems with western scientific research methods from the natural and social sciences. The project undertakes to examine both state and community-led impact assessment processes symmetrically, and to explore the concrete impacts and possibilities of CBIAs and the Norwegian Planning and Building Act and related provisions on Impact Assessments for IK and rights. The research will contribute to the policy and advocacy work of Indigenous communities and organisations, and directly enhance Sami community capacities in relation to area planning and strategic land and marine decision-making. We will structure the research into four work packages (WP), which will bring together on-going and new empirical case studies in a novel international comparison of methodologies for incorporating Indigenous knowledge systems in marine and land-use planning decisions. The first three WPs reflect three key spatial and temporal scales in marine and land-use planning decisions: 1) strategic planning 2) planning permits for proposed resource projects and 3) planning for existing operations. The fourth WP consolidates the knowledge produced through the three first WPs and provides transnational and international case study comparisons, exploring the status of IK in planning processes and decision-making in developing countries, in settler nations, such as Australia, and in nations such as Sweden and Norway.

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P-SAMISK-Program for samisk forskning