Sámi knowledge and ecosystem-based adaptation strategies for managing pastures under threat from multiple land uses

 1.    Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) relies upon the capacity of ecosystems to buffer communities against the adverse impacts of climate change. Maintaining ecosystems that deliver critical services to communities can also provide co-benefits beyond adaptation, such as climate mitigation and protection of biological diversity and livelihoods. EbA has to a limited extent drawn upon indigenous-and local knowledge (ILK) for defining critical services and for implementing EbA in decision-making. This is a paradox given that the primary focus of EbA is to enable communities to adapt to climate change.
2.      The purpose of this study was to elucidate EbA strategies that take into account the knowledge of Sámi reindeer herders about pastures in tundra regions. We first examined what constitutes critical services as perceived by Sámi reindeer herders through a synthesis of data and literature. We thereafter used content analysis of 91 land use cases from 2010-2018 to investigate to what e...