Coastal foodscapes: a place-based perspective on heritage rooted in coastal ecosystems

Norwegian coastal regions are facing multiple challenges from accelerating environmental and socioeconomic changes, including ecosystem degradation, climate change, intensified land use and declining populations. In light of this, FOODCOAST takes a foodscape perspective on the coast, representing the place in which food is produced, as well as the social relations and the cultural meaning that emerge in these specific contexts. By investigating three selected areas, we have looked at how food production in coastal Norway is promoted and managed, and studied the connections between food production and associated knowledge, traditions, cultural heritage and ecosystem services. At Værlandet, Vestland, we will look at the grazing of Old Norse sheep on coastal heathlands and how the management of cultural landscapes meshes with nature protection. In Porsanger, Finnmark, the focus is on Sea Sami traditions, where we have looked at local practices related to food and nature use, and what challenges and opportunities this entails in terms of land use, knowledge and identity. In Salten, Nordland, we have focused on both coastal fisheries and outfields grazing practices, and how climate change and increased predator pressure lead to greater pressure on land and increased conflict in coastal areas. We have mapped these selected areas and investigated perceptions of obstacles and opportunities for the management, use and appreciation of natural and cultural heritage. By examining how practitioners envision the future, we have further investigated how visions of the future can be a resource for finding common values and characteristics of landscapes where food production is central. The overall goal of FOODCOAST is to identify strategies for sustainable and holistic management of cultural landscapes and natural environments based on different food production patterns in coastal areas. FOODCOAST consists of an interdisciplinary research group from the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA, project leader), Nordlandsforskning, the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU), UiT The Arctic University of Norway, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), the Museums in Akershus (MiA), and in collaboration with Mearrasiida, a sea sami competence centre in Porsanger. In our mapping of food production systems in coastal Norway, we have been keen to gain a deeper understanding of the three case areas; both in terms of nature use, resource utilisation and landscape management, and the context-specific factors that characterise local use and food production. Furthermore, we have listened to local stories about nature use and food production and what lies behind tensions with regional and national management. This has given us stories about identity, community, grief and care that in different ways are linked to the production of food and utilisation of the resource base. Through this, we have gained insight into a form of nature use that has deep historical roots in local communities, but which is also seen as an important resource for the future. An overarching message from the project is that in order to achieve more holistic and sustainable management of the coast, including food production and nature use, local and experience-based knowledge must be included to a greater extent in management strategies and in the mapping that underpins them. Better integration of local perspectives will make policy formulations more in line with local needs and make it easier to achieve holistic management that facilitates sustainable use and management across social, cultural, economic and ecological dimensions. A broader understanding of what values are important in local communities and why, will provide better conditions for local co-determination and can strengthen trust in management.

FOODCOAST har bidrege til å rette merksemd mot utfordingar som lokale matprodusentar som brukar og skjøttar landskap og naturverdiar står i, og synleggjere verdien av deira naturbruk og praksisar. For at natur- og kulturverdiar skal kunne forvaltast på ein god, heilskapleg og berekraftig måte, er det viktig at perspektiva til dei som er nærast desse verdiane – dei som brukar, forvaltar, skjøttar og vidareforedlar - blir høyrt og sett. Utan at forvaltninga er lydhøyre ovanfor lokal kunnskap, lokale praksisar og lokale perspektiv står ein i fare for å miste den største ressursen som trengst for å sørge for berekraftig forvalting; nemleg den praktiske innsatsen til desse aktørane. Våre lokale undersøkingar gir nokre innblikk i dei matproduserande landskapa langsetter kysten. Sjølv om lokal kontekst varierer har vi prøvd å synleggjere nokre av barrierane for denne naturbuken, matproduksjonen og landskapsskjøtselen. Denne synleggjeringa er noko vi håpar kan vere med å skape auka bevisstheit både lokalt, regionalt og nasjonalt om at den lokale matproduksjonen og naturbruken, ikkje berre som ei etterleving frå ei tilbakelagt tid, men er ein ressurs for framtid matsikkerheit og levande kystbygder, der ein evnar å finne gode lokale løysingar og tilpassing til berekraftig ressursbruk og -forvaltning.

Norwegian coastal regions are facing multiple challenges from accelerating environmental and socioeconomic changes, including ecosystem degradation, climate change, intensified resource extraction, land use change and declining populations. In light of these environmental and structural changes, FOODCOAST takes a foodscape perspective on the coast, representing the physical place in which food is produced, as well as the social relations and the cultural meaning that emerge in these specific contexts. By investigating selected food systems representing agriculture, transhumance and fishing in Værlandet, Salten and Porsanger, the project analyse how coastal food production as heritage is nurtured and managed, and investigates the connection between food systems and their embedded cultural practices and ecosystem services in coastal landscapes. Through using three cases that illuminate the diverse patterns of food production in the coastal regions, FOODCOASTs overall objective is to identify avenues for sustainable and integrated management of cultural landscapes, natural environments, and foodscapes. Firstly, FOODCOAST will map the select coastal foodscapes and investigate perceptions of constraints and opportunities for management, use and valuation of natural and cultural heritage across spatial divides and different governance domains. Secondly, FOODCOAST will bring actors together to explore how futures are presented and imagined to investigate how imagined futures can be a resource for identifying shared values and cultural attributes of social-ecological foodscapes. Lastly, FOODCOAST will identify management strategies for holistic and sustainable management and development of coastal foodscapes. FOODCOAST’s interdisciplinary team of researchers will engage closely with stakeholders and formal management at different levels through participatory research activities, workshops, and targeted dissemination.