Monica Tennberg

Indigenous peoples as international political actors: a summary

The article discusses the results of a three year research project studying international indigenous political activism using case studies from the Arctic. Drawing on two different disciplinary starting points, international relations and international law, the project addressed two interrelated questions. The first of these was how relations between states, international organisations and indigenous peoples have been and are currently constructed as legal and political practices; the second was how indigenous peoples construct their political agency through different strategies to further their political interests. These questions are addressed from the point of view of power relations. The power to act is the basic form of political agency. However, this power may take different forms of political action, for example, self-identification, participation, influence, and representation. The main conclusions of the article are: 1) indigenous political agency is based on multiple forms of power; 2) practices of power that enable and constrain indigenous political agency change over time; 3) power circulates and produces multiple sites of encounters for states, international organisations and indigenous people; 4) indigenous political agency is a question of acting; and 5) there are new challenges ahead for indigenous peoples in claiming a political voice, in particular in global climate politics.

Indigenous peoples as international political actors: presenting the INDIPO project

Indigenous peoples have emerged as active participants in international relations. They claim the right to participation and to consultation in international political decision-making and to represent their interests based on principles of self-determination. Indigenous peoples organizations in the Arctic have been in the forefront of the political mobilization of indigenous peoples in different international forums. The aim of the INDIPO project is to study the dynamics of interactions between states, international organizations, and indigenous peoples. This research project draws on theories and practices in international politics and international law in order to analyse how ‘indigenousness’ is used politically as a claim to self-determination and sovereignty in the international system and what the political consequences of this claim will be. The research objective consists in seeking answers to two interrelated questions. Firstly, how relations between states, international organizations and indigenous peoples have been and are currently constructed as legal and political practices? Secondly, how indigenous peoples, through different strategies, construct political agencies to further their political interest? The research project advances knowledge about the construction of the political agency of indigenous peoples and their participation in international policy-making. The researchers seek to establish a constructive dialogue with the representatives of major stakeholders and to organise two workshops with them in order to discuss the objectives and results of the project. The first one was held in Inari, Finland in January 2006.

Is Adaptation Governable in the Arctic? National and Regional Approaches to Arctic Adaptation Governance

The aim of this chapter is introduce adaptation to impacts of climate change as part of international climate governance in the Arctic. In the Arctic, there is a clash of two discourses – scientific discourse on concern for the impacts of climate change and neoliberal discourse of new opportunities for resource exploitation made possible by the climate change. The chapter studies the national communications of eight Arctic states to the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change since the early 1990s to analyze three related questions (1) how the concern for the climate change and its impacts are articulated as “governable problems” in the national communications, (2) how the regional concern for the Arctic is manifested nationally and (3) how the agency in developing preparedness, and responses to climate change impacts are constructed in these communications.

The Ivalo River and its People: There Have Always Been Floods – What Is Different Now?

The Ivalo River and its annual variation have always been a part of the everyday life of the nearby town’s inhabitants. This case study looks at the history of flooding and closely analyses the latest major flood of 2005. The development of the community, with particular respect to increase of infrastructure, has left the community more vulnerable to flooding than before. The case study discovers that the critical issue for adaptation to flood risk is communication within the community between local people, decision-makers and regional actors involved with flood protection. Adaptation to future flooding needs a multilevel and flexible strategy. The analysis integrates anthropological, political and natural science information.

Responsibilisation for adaptation

This chapter concludes the study on adaptation governance for climate change from the perspective of practice theory. The authors suggest that through practices the uncertain future of climate change and its impacts in the Arctic are made “governable” and “governed”. Through practices of “distant” governance, reflected in plans and strategies for adaptation, a range of actors become involved in adaptation governance, with varying relationships to the state. A second form of governance, “intimate” governance works by dispersing involvement in adaptation into the communities through multiple, daily interactions. In addition to “distant” and “intimate” governance, there are emerging practices of “close” governance. Through ethical self-creation – a practice of the self – people make themselves subjects and objects of climate change adaptation and its governance. Responsibilisation is a particular technique of power which works by scattering governance and responsibility.

Adaptation as a governance practice

In general terms, governance is the exercise of political, scientific, economic and administrative power to manage societies and their development. The concept of adaptation governance captures the multitude of issues, activities and actors engaged in adaptation to climate change. Adaptation to the impacts of climate change is a problem for governance, but one that is understood in different ways. Accordingly, the chapter develops two theoretical approaches to the study of adaptation governance, one drawing on the work of John Dewey, the other on the ideas of Michel Foucault. Adaptation governance does not appear from a political, economic and societal vacuum, but is closely related to existing political and administrative habits, customs and practices. Governance enhances or changes relations of responsibility. As a result of “responsibilisation” – increasing responsiveness in adaptation governance – practices of governance and power are developed, agencies are constructed and responsibilities for adaptation shared.

Adaptation in Russian Climate Governance

This chapter presents and discusses the practices of Russian adaptation governance. Climate policy in the country has long considered a changing climate to be a natural phenomenon, not a human-caused problem, and it is only recently that this view has started to change on the official level. Hazardous events caused by the warming climate, such as floods and permafrost degradation, as well as the economic losses resulting from such events, are defined as major national and economic concerns. Most of the current governance efforts focus on emergency response; national plans for pro-active adaptation are only just in the making. The chapter discusses a pilot project to develop an adaptation strategy for the Murmansk region. Russian adaptation governance suffers from the same problems as Russian environmental governance in general: a lack of the material, intellectual and organisational resources needed to tackle the issues and implement concrete plans of action.

Negotiating Risk and Responsibility: Political Economy of Flood Protection Management in Northern Finland

Floods occur every spring in Northern Finland. These floods attract locals to the shores of rivers to admire the movement of melting ice and strength of the water. Floods also damage buildings, roads and disturb everyday life in many ways. The EU Flood Directive (2007) and its national implementation recently require local and regional authorities as well as inhabitants to take the threat of floods more seriously and prepare better for them than before. This chapter investigates the rationalities in developing regional flood management plans for two major flooding rivers in Lapland, for Ivalo and Kemi Rivers in 2013–2015. Although, there were some similarities in debates concerning the flood management planning in both cases, outcomes of the two participatory planning processes were quite different in terms of assessing the level of risk and defining responsibilities to tackle it. Regional flood management is politically much larger issue than to find a feasible and economically sensible technical solution for effective flood protection.

Adaptation in Finnish Climate Governance

This chapter presents and discusses the practices of Finnish climate xadgovernance with regard to adaptation. Finland takes its responsibility in climate politics seriously, although it is a rather recent idea that Finland could actually be vulnerable to direct impacts of climate change. Since the publication of the ACIA report (2004), a new governmental problematisation has emerged indicating that the people and nature in northern Finland could be “particularly sensitive” to the impacts of climate change. In its practices, Finnish adaptation governance mostly follows the logic of international climate governance, and it is expected to be even more internationally oriented in the future given the anticipated development of adaptation governance in the EU. It should be pointed out that half of the Finnish population is already covered by some kind of regional or local climate strategy that addresses adaptation to climate change. Adaptation strategies are now being drawn up for Lapland – the northernmost region of Finland – and for its capital, Rovaniemi. In Finnish adaptation governance, the role of the population is to be concerned, aware and willing to accept and participate in governmental action.

Arctic Environmental Policy

Lincoln Bloomfield defined the Arctic as an area “yet largely untouched by existing or prospective international agreements” (Bloomfield 1981, 87). The Arctic he spoke about was the last unmanaged frontier. This area limited by the Arctic circle is nowadays a focus for developing of natural resources. Oil, gas and minerals as well as fisheries form the rich resource base of this area. These resources can and will be used, despite the harsh climate conditions and long distances of transportation, (see, e.g., Hoel, Karlsen and Breivik 1993, 76-81.) Although, the area is sparsely populated, the Arctic is considered to be an ecologically vulnerable area. Ecological vulnerability is due to factors such as the low temperature, limited amount of sun light and cold soils. These factors limit the capability of the environment to absorb and assimilate pollutants. For example, spills during oil production and transportation degrade slowly in these conditions. The low temperatures slow also the release of nutrients needed for new growth. Combinations of these factors makes the region vulnerable to physical and chemical disturbances. (Osherenko and Young 1989, 113-116.) Because of the growing pressures to develop and exploit the region’s natural resources, the issue of resource management has become more important than ever.