Incorporating Traditional Knowledge in Environmental Impact Assessment—How Can It Be Done?

• Published in: Arctic Review on Law and Politics
• Main Authors: Einar Eyþórsson, Alma Elizabeth Thuestad
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Norwegian
• Published: Cappelen Damm Akademisk NOASP 2015
• Subjects: Sami traditional knowledge; land and resource use; impact assessment; Finnmark Commission; Law; K; Arctic; Arctic review on law and politics; Finnmark; sami
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.17585/arctic.v6.101; https://doaj.org/article/657e889afb6c4aef9fe131c96cc84140

An obligation to consider traditional knowledge (TK) in planning, resource, and land management, particularly in Sami areas, has been formalized through the Nature Diversity Act. However, current Norwegian legislation and guidelines contain few clarifications of what TK is, how to approach it, or how to appropriately include such data in assessment and planning processes. The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research has incorporated TK about land and resource use in several impact assessments (IAs), building on a methodological approach applied for a number of review assignments for the Finnmark Commission. While the experiences from reviews for the Commission and IAs concerning Sami land and resource use may represent a step towards incorporating TK in Norwegian planning processes, the approach to documentation, methodology, and ethics in this field is open for debate. The same can be said of the formal frameworks for IA and the willingness to incorporate TK in planning programs, in general.