Perception, Identity, Territory: Social Dimensions of Climate Change Adaptation in Northern Norway

• Main Author: Eidse, Jonathan Patrick Dean
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Social; limitations; and; enablers; to; adaptation; vulnerability; climate; change; livelihoods; Hammerfest; Finnmark; Norway; fisheries; LNG; reindeer; herding; tourism; mining; perception; identity; territory; Arctic; Climate change; Northern Norway
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10852/45497; http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-49804

It is often contended that individuals and states fail to act on knowledge of climate change as it is too abstract and intangible. What then of the so-called hotspot communities situated in the most dramatically impacted regions on the frontlines of climate change? This project aims to identify a community particularly exposed to climate change and to answer whether or not changes here occur at a sufficient magnitude to be perceived and if so, to what degree are its inhabitants responding? Qualitative, ground-up, sector-based research conducted in one such hotspot, Arctic Norway, found that 1) environmental changes are indeed being perceived and acted upon by local inhabitants, though with varying degrees across industries 2) that social identities relating to livelihoods serve as both enablers and limitations to adaptation and 3) that overlapping territorial claims/needs significantly limit current and future adaptation possibilities.