Indigenous and local knowledge on adaptive responses to climate hazards in remote areas: – a comparative case study in Nordic contexts

Adaptive responses to climate hazards (including preparations, responses, and
recovery) in remote areas depend on people’s knowledge and ability to act on that
knowledge, and ecological and socio-economic conditions beyond their immediate
control. In remote areas, people are more likely necessary to act without the support of
government or civil society organizations, especially if those areas are characterized
by high exposure to climate hazards such as storms, floods, and avalanches. In this
paper, we present a comparative case study on how the presence of indigenous and
local knowledge (ILK) affects people’s adaptive responses to climate hazards
(including preparations, responses, and recovery) in remote areas in the Nordic
countries characterized by strong place attachment and high exposure to climate
hazards. We find that ILK on adaptive responses to climate hazards exist in these
communities and that these are connected to locally based cultural and livelihood
practices, and to the maintenance of people-place relations in those communities. We
also find that ILK is maintained and transferred between people and through
generations in culturally, and at times locally, specific ways and that this transference
requires that people-place relations are maintained. We also find that communities face
challenges as regards adapting their ILK to new conditions due to fewer people
maintaining relations to place associated with natural resource-dependent livelihoods
and cultural practices, and due to compound effects of socio-economic and ecological
dynamics, including but not limited to climate change.