Grete K. Hovelsrud

Implementing adaptation to climate change at the local level

Adaptation to climate change has to various degrees been added to the political agenda in all industrialised countries. In most of these countries, adaptation measures are yet to be implemented in legislation and are, therefore, in practice voluntary undertakings. At the local level of the government, this means that adaptation has to compete with other non-mandatory issues. This raises the question as to what degree adaptation can and will be implemented. This paper examines how the implementation of climate adaptation measures has proceeded in eight Norwegian municipalities. These municipalities were among the first movers on adaptation to climate change in Norway. In order to measure the degree of implementation, a set of indicators has been developed and the eight case municipalities have been analysed according to these indicators. We found that seven of eight municipalities have implemented or have specific plans to implement adaptation measures. These findings show that municipalities are able to implement adaptation policies that are not initiated at the central level, but are contingent upon a number of factors: the efforts of individuals within the municipal organisation, municipal size, and the use of external expertise.

Seaweeds: an opportunity for wealth and sustainable livelihood for coastal communities

The European, Canadian, and Latin American seaweed industries rely on the sustainable harvesting of natural resources. As several countries wish to increase their activity, the harvest should be managed according to integrated and participatory governance regimes to ensure production within a long-term perspective. Development of regulations and directives enabling the sustainable exploitation of natural resources must therefore be brought to the national and international political agenda in order to ensure environmental, social, and economic values in the coastal areas around the world. In Europe, Portugal requires an appraisal of seaweed management plans while Norway and Canada have developed and implemented coastal management plans including well-established and sustainable exploitation of their natural seaweed resources. Whereas, in Latin America, different scenarios of seaweed exploitation can be observed; each country is however in need of long-term and ecosystem-based management plans to ensure that exploitation is sustainable. These plans are required particularly in Peru and Brazil, while Chile has succeeded in establishing a sustainable seaweed-harvesting plan for most of the economically important seaweeds. Furthermore, in both Europe and Latin America, seaweed aquaculture is at its infancy and development will have to overcome numerous challenges at different levels (i.e., technology, biology, policy). Thus, there is a need for regulations and establishment of “best practices” for seaweed harvesting, management, and cultivation. Trained human resources will also be required to provide information and education to the communities involved, to enable seaweed utilization to become a profitable business and provide better income opportunities to coastal communities.

Arctic Societies, Cultures, and Peoples in a Changing Cryosphere

Changes in sea ice, snow cover, lake and river ice, and permafrost will affect economy, infrastructure, health, and indigenous and non-indigenous livelihoods, culture, and identity. Local residents are resilient and highly adaptive, but the rate and magnitude of change challenges the current adaptive capacity. Cryospheric changes create both challenges and opportunities, and occur along local, regional, and international dimensions. Such changes will provide better access to the Arctic and its resources thereby increasing human activities such as shipping and tourism. Cryospheric changes pose a number of challenges for international governance, human rights, safety, and search and rescue efforts. In addition to the direct effects of a changing cryosphere, human society is affected by indirect factors, including industrial developments, globalization, and societal changes, which contribute to shaping vulnerability and adaptation options. Combined with non-cryospheric drivers of change, this will result in multifaceted and cascading effects within and beyond the Arctic.

The Changing Arctic Cryosphere and Likely Consequences: An Overview

The Arctic cryosphere is a critically important component of the earth system, affecting the energy balance, atmospheric and ocean circulation, freshwater storage, sea level, the storage, and release of large quantities of greenhouse gases, economy, infrastructure, health, and indigenous and non-indigenous livelihoods, culture and identity. Currently, components of the Arctic cryosphere are subjected to dramatic change due to global warming. The need to document, understand, project, and respond to changes in the cryosphere and their consequences stimulated a comprehensive international assessment called “SWIPA”: Snow, Water, Ice, Permafrost in the Arctic. Some of the extensive key SWIPA chapters have been summarized and made more widely available to a global audience with multi-disciplinary interests in this Special Report of Ambio. In this article, an overview is provided of this Special Report in the context of the more detailed and wider scope of the SWIPA Report. Accelerated changes in major components of the Arctic cryosphere are documented. Evidence of feedback mechanisms between the cryosphere and other parts of the climate system are identified as contributing factors to enhanced Arctic warming while the growing importance of Arctic land-based ice as a contributor to global sea-level rise is quantified. Cryospheric changes will result in multifaceted and cascading effects for people within and beyond the Arctic presenting both challenges and opportunities.

Driving the agenda for climate change adaptation in Norwegian municipalities

The absence of clear signals from the Norwegian state concerning climate change adaptation provides an opportunity to investigate why some municipalities have addressed adaptation to climate change while others have not. Although difficulties associated with implementing adaptation to climate change are well documented, less is known about those individuals who take the lead. On the basis of in-depth interviews and interaction with eight Norwegian municipalities that have begun working with climate adaptation, we examine how climate adaptation has been added to the local agenda. We find that adaptation planning has progressed more in those municipalities where officials are engaged and actively seeking external expertise and support. We conclude that, without a clearer national adaptation policy and greater resource allocation and legislation, adaptation to climate change within Norwegian municipalities is unlikely to progress further.

Who can Stop the Rain? Perceptions of Summer Weather Effects Among Small Tourism Businesses

ABSTRACT This paper examines the effects of summer season weather and weather changes on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism and hospitality industry as perceived by enterprises in two coastal areas in Northern Norway. The study is concentrated on the possible importance of weather and indirect effects of weather for these businesses. The data are derived from two-stage semi-structured interviews with industry representatives. Weather and weather changes do not stand out as being a major concern among the respondents, although it is acknowledged that some types of weather, notably precipitation and low visibility, can negatively affect businesses. This is a pragmatic view that should be understood in relation to the mainly small operator size and the limited future planning of SMEs. At the same time, the operators are familiar with combining outdoor recreation and unpredictable weather meaning that the weather is just not “bad enough” to be concerned with, especially given tourist expectations of weather in these locations.

Adaptation in Fisheries and Municipalities: Three Communities in Northern Norway

In this chapter we focus on how changing societal and climatic conditions have consequences for current and future vulnerability and adaptation in three municipalities in Northern Norway: Hammerfest and Lebesby, in Finnmark County, and Vestvagoy in the Lofoten Islands, Nordland County. Through local consultations and discussions, fisheries and municipal planning were identified as having particular relevance in the case communities. Climate change is not perceived to be a major challenge locally, nevertheless, when climate projections are considered alongside locally defined and relevant socio-economic and climatic concerns that are particular to local contexts, multiple and interrelated factors emerge that are likely to shape future vulnerability. Focussing on coastal fisheries and municipal planning as two major arenas for change, we find that adaptation takes place along a number of dimensions and at several societal levels. Adaptive strategies occur in response to changing socio-economic conditions, to variable weather and environmental conditions, or to a combination of both. There are three interlinked factors that our empirical findings show are currently of concern for coastal fisheries: changes in bio-physical conditions (ocean temperature and fish distribution and behaviour); fisheries management and regulations (vessel size, species, quotas) and societal conditions (outmigration, market factors and transfer of knowledge). The interlinkages between these changes, and community responses to them, have first and foremost been captured and understood through local involvement in our research.

Local climate change adaptation: missing link, Black Jack or blind alley?

Climate change is rapidly becoming a reality to which society has to adapt. Mitigation efforts are critically important, but will not prevent many of the nearto medium-term impacts of climate change. Scientists, planners and policy-makers have started to address the adaptation challenge, and this Special Issue of Local Environment aims to meet a growing demand for shared knowledge on climate change adaptation (CCA). In the call for the Special Issue, we stated that we wanted to limit the focus to the “Nordic Case”. By this we meant contributions that present findings from projects performed in one of the Nordic countries, compare results from different Nordic countries, or compare the situation in one or more Nordic countries with that in other countries. The practical background for this limitation was a research initiative presented by the Nordic council – the Nordic Top-level Research Initiative – which has funded 11 Nordic networks of excellence and a Nordic Centre of Excellence (Nord STAR) on CCA. This has resulted in an increasing number of interesting research results in the Nordic countries that could be relevant to the readers of Local Environment. Specifically, we invited contributions from participants in the research seminar “Climate Change Adaptation in the Nordic Countries, Science, Practice and Policy” arranged by one of the networks (NORDCLAD-net) in Stockholm on 8–10 November 2010. Most of the contributions in this special issue come from this conference. There is also a more profound reason for focusing on the Nordic case. In general, the Nordic countries will probably experience less dramatic consequences of climate change than may be the case for countries in other parts of the world, particularly poor countries located along the equator. Even though climate change itself may be severe in the northern hemisphere (e.g. the rate of increase in temperature is twice the global average, giving projected major changes in snow and ice conditions), the Nordic countries are often considered to have a high adaptive capacity with respect to planning and rescue management and more powerful municipalities than in other regions. Thus, the lessons learned about the limits and barriers to CCA from the Nordic setting and the strategies to overcome these could be transferable to societies in the rest of the world. Therefore, the focus of this Special Issue can be seen as a collective “critical case” in the following sense: If local CCA does not work well in the Nordic countries, then it is not likely to work well in other countries!

Understanding the need for adaptation in a natural resource dependent community in Northern Norway: issue salience, knowledge and values

For society to effectively manage climate change impacts, the need to adapt must be recognized. At the same time there is a disconnect between knowledge and action on climate change. The salience of adaptation to climate change may be a precondition for action, but this issue has so far been neglected in the adaptation literature. This indicates a missing link between perception, values and world-views, on one side, and policy formation on the other. The article analyses how actors in three occupational groups in a natural resource dependent community in northern Norway perceive and respond to changes in weather and resource conditions, as well as projections for future climate. The results indicate that the need to adapt is perceived differently, if at all, amongst different actors. By drawing on concepts from governance literatures and cultural theory of risks (CTR), the paper seeks to explain this divergence in perceptions and responses amongst different actors, which can help policy-makers understand when and why autonomous actors are willing to adapt. We find that adaptation to climate change cannot readily be expected among actors who fit the individualist category of CTR, who do not directly utilize scientific knowledge when in their work.

Local Effects of Global Climate Change: Differential Experiences of Sheep Farmers and Reindeer Herders in Unjárga/Nesseby, a Coastal Sámi Community in Northern Norway

Unjarga/Nesseby municipality is located in the inner part of the Varanger fjord in eastern Finnmark. Combining reindeer herding, agriculture, coastal fisheries, hunting and gathering has been of fundamental importance to the population in this coastal Sami community for centuries. Although today this combination of activities no longer provides the same level of livelihood sustenance in the municipality, natural resource based activities and different kinds of harvesting remain of great significance for the residents, as economic activities, for recreation and in people’s sense of belonging. This chapter looks at the interlinkages between maintaining and developing the important nature based industries of sheep farming and reindeer herding in Unjarga/Nesseby, and the locally experienced outcomes of global climate change. Consistent with the CAVIAR framework, we assess exposure-sensitivities and local adaptation strategies to changing conditions influencing these livelihoods. We present a preliminary analysis of the linkages between future climate trends and the adaptive capacity of the local animal husbandries. Our main focus is on the four recent years of extensive moth larvae outbreaks [larvae from autumnal moth (Epirrita autumnata) and winter moth (Operophtera brumata)] that have resulted in widespread birch forest mortality in Unjarga/Nesseby municipality. The persistent moth larvae attacks are likely to be a result of a milder climate. As these alterations have radically changed the landscape, sheep farmers and reindeer herders in the community are introduced to new livelihood challenges, as well as opportunities.