Co-production of Knowledge on Climate Change Adaptation in Reindeer Sámi Culture: Research Methodology and Ethics

Abstract

AbstractThis paper presents part of the results of the “Feasibility study on co-production of knowledge between researchers and Indigenous communities for climate change adaptation” project. The research hypothesis was that academia and Sámi communities could find ways for culturally sustainable adaptation with the ethical and systematic co-production of knowledge. The research material comprises six workshops organized in the Finnish Sámi homeland with Sámi reindeer herders. Traditional knowledge and expertise of the Sámi people were considered equal alongside academic knowledge. The workshops conveyed distrust of researchers but considered future collaboration with the academia important. Participants identified critical prerequisites for research collaboration with the academia: the projects need to support the reindeer herding culture, and Sámi participation has to be included in the projects from the beginning. The chapter provides a procedure for the ethical co-production of knowledge in the reindeer Sámi context. Effects of climate change are widespread in Sámi reindeer herding culture. Workshops concluded that climate adaptation requires, among other things, action from the administration; collaboration with reindeer herders, authorities, and researchers; and the development of the status of reindeer herding.