The presence, maintenance, and adaptation of Indigenous and local knowledge about climate-related hazards in Nordic contexts

Abstract The ability of people to act on their knowledge of their surrounding physical environments before, in response to, and after impactful climate-related hazards is shaped by broader environmental and socio-economic conditions. We present a multiple case study that illustrates how people from both non-Indigenous and Indigenous communities living in remote areas in the Nordic countries maintain and adapt their hazard-related Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK). The four communities that we followed through qualitative, fieldwork-based research are characterized by a strong attachment to place, a developed sense of place, and high exposure to climate-related hazards. The hazard-related ILK of people in these communities is integrated into place-based everyday practices in the physical environment and includes helping others in the community. Our research highlights that people maintain their ILK in several ways: through intergenerational relations with family and friends; by adopting place-based cultural practices into everyday life; by relating to past experience and historical events; and through community inclusion. However, adapting this knowledge to their surrounding conditions is challenged by compounding pressures of environmental and socio-economic change. Given that knowledge claims may be incommensurable, we highlight different approaches to the question of which of the various values found in ILK could be deemed relevant for policy development. Whether the policy objective is to support the practical application of ILK or the cultural diversity it represents, we underline the need for greater theorization regarding the deeper structural drivers that shape local agency, if such goals are to be reached more effectively.