FUGLAN VEIT - safeguarding diversity in times of climate change and biodiversity loss

FUGLAN VEIT is a transdisciplinary, collaborative research project that aims to examine and understand shared human-avian histories and create new lines of thought and action that ensure co-existence in times of alarming declines in seabird populations. Seabirds are part of coastal cultural heritage, and by building new alliances between scientific experts, local caretakers, artistic cultural brokers, included the seabirds, the objective is to improve the nesting situation for seabirds that seeks protection from humans during the nesting season. The project’s focus is on two circumpolar and red-listed seabird species that seek protection from humans during the nesting season, the common eider and black legged kittiwakes. While the eider for centuries has sought human protection in the nesting period and constitutes a unique example of sustainable use and inter-species co-habitation, the kittiwake has recently become urbanized, intruding city life with its messiness and noisy behavior. By applying a more-than-human approach, the project will provide new knowledge on management as well as on the creative placemaking potentials of inter-species relations. FUGLAN VEIT is led by UiT- the Arctic University of Norway, in collaboration with the Sámi University of Applied Science and NINA, and includes partners in Vega, Vardø and Porsanger. The partner locations represent a diverse history of traditional utilization of seabirds, including sea Sámi practices. Two types of partner activities have been organized: 1) local archival- workshops: by using a 50 year old archive on seabird practices in Northern Norway as an asset for sparking memory and reflections on contemporary local practices and potentials 2) nesting workshop focusing on the birds nesting preferences; food availability, site fidelity and care. The partners have different scopes and challenges that they have explored through FUGLAN VEIT. In collaboration with artistic collaborators, the workshops will prepare for the seabird symposium “Sound of Silence”, a side-event at Bodø 2024 (European Cultural Capital) and to the 20th anniversary of the Vega archipelago as a World Heritage site. In Vardø a kittiwake hotel is built by the community organization of Kiberg in collaboration with the municipality and FUGLAN VEIT participants. An OA/ hybrid anthology of human-bird stories is under production for release at the final conference in Tromsø 2025. During 2021 the seabird- archive has been catalogued (text, sound and photos), and local workgroups at our partner locations were established, to prepare the archive for local exhibitions and storytelling workshops. Artistic competence is provided to facilitate for new target groups with a particular focus on next generation. The exhibition and workshops took place in 2022 (Vega and Vardø) and in Porsanger 2023. The first year (2021) a webinar series on more-than-human and community-generating approaches was held for the project group. FUGLAN VEIT is collaborating with international resource persons at the University of Durham and Memorial University Newfoundland. A PhD scholar is recruited and explores the potential and uncertainties for future inter-species co-existence through the ongoing invasion of red-listed kittiwakes in Tromsø city center. Three fieldwork grants for master projects have been assigned for exploring sea-Sámi seabird and nature practices (Porsanger) and human- bird relations in 2 different eider rookeries in Nordland (Hysvær and Givær).

FUGLAN VEIT addresses the need for collaborative and multidisciplinary alliances for management and care for endangered seabird species that seek protection from humans during the nesting season. The project will apply a more-than-human approach to seabird management, and will focus on two circumpolar species, the common eider (Somateria mollissima), and black legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla). While the eider for centuries has sought human protection in the nesting period and constitutes a unique example of sustainable use and inter-species collaboration (Sundsvold, 2015), the kittiwake has recently become urbanized, intruding city life with its messiness and noisy behaviour (Reiertsen, 2019-2020). By juxtaposing between these two species, the project will provide new knowledge on management as well as on the placemaking potentials of inter-species relations. By this, the project will contribute to address needed green societal transitions for management of critically endangered seabirds. Through multidisciplinary and partner collaboration the project will contribute to new perspectives on conservation, placemaking and management that recognizes diversity as a necessary part in communicating knowledge, and how this diversity may be put to work for mitigating climate-related environmental and societal challenges through concrete and practical collaboration.