A new article published today in the journal Arctic points to major challenges in the ways traditional knowledge is included in the management of Atlantic salmon in Norway and Finland.
A new article published today in the journal Arctic points to major challenges in the ways traditional knowledge is included in the management of Atlantic salmon in Norway and Finland. Comparing different policy and research approaches in the two countries in relation to international expectations towards traditional knowledge inclusion (i.e. the Convention on Biodiversity and at the Arctic policy level), the authors point to remaining gaps and rare examples of success in the inclusion of Sámi knowledge in Atlantic salmon governance.
Through investigating how traditional knowledge comes to matter at local, regional (national) and international levels in Atlantic salmon research and governance approaches in Norway and Finland, the authors reviewed the social robustness of different approaches to salmon knowledge co-production.
The authors argue that expectations at the international policy level towards traditional knowledge integration with science are at times unrealistically high, and hard to meet at local levels and in national policy contexts. Surprisingly, the projects which seem to fulfil Arctic expectations of traditional knowledge co-production with science (projects with high legitimacy), seem to have the least impact on policy, and vice versa. Thus, it is argued for a rethinking of how a legitimate and policy-relevant knowledge co-production process should be conducted.
Read more at University of Eastern Finland
Image: Jouko Moshnikoff (on the left) and Teijo Feodoroff (on the right) have shared their Skolt Sami traditional knowledge relating to the state of the Näätämöjoki River as part of a co-management project. (Credit: Gleb Raygorodetsky)
