Nature guides’ enactments of Traditional and Local Ecological Knowledge: Pathways to sustainable relations?

Abstract The article is based on a study of nature guides in Arctic Norway who offer various outdoor activities to multiple types of tourists. Considering that the environment and society cannot be separated, outdoor environmental education (OEE) can be interpreted as nature guiding practices that foster sustainable relations between humans and non-human actors. The aim is to investigate how nature guides enact Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) in their practices. The ethnographic fieldwork focused on three nature guides who offer outdoor activities to tourists, namely hiking, biking, and kayaking. An Indigenous methodology based on Sámi ways of being, inspired by multispecies perspectives, assisted in the thematic analysis of the empirical data. Findings show that the nature guides have close connections to tangible and intangible natural and cultural values where they live and work. TEK and LEK are enacted through stories connecting the past to present environmental challenges, and active engagement with the surroundings, permeated with care towards human and non-human actors. The nature guides’ practices are based on respect for the rhythms of nature, which have implications for the guides’ patterns of consumption and philosophies. The study highlights the importance of including multiple knowledge systems and considering non-human interests to decolonise OEE. The findings provide practical insights for diverse nature guiding contexts, suggesting the use of metaphors to engage with more-than-human worlds. These insights are transferable to other practitioners of OEE, such as teachers in higher education, and outdoor recreation tour leaders.