Coastal foodscapes: a place-based perspective on heritage rooted in coastal ecosystems

Informations

Funding country

Norway

Acronym

-

URL

-

Start date

1/1/2019

End date

12/31/2023

Budget

904,050 EUR

Fundings

Abstract

Norwegian coastal regions are facing multiple challenges from accelerating environmental and socioeconomic changes, including ecosystem degradation, climate change, intensified land use and declining populations. In light of these, FOODCOAST takes a foodscape perspective on the coast, representing the place in which food is produced, as well as the social relations and the cultural meaning that emerge in these specific contexts. By investigating three food systems, the project explores how coastal food production as heritage is nurtured and managed, and the connection between food systems and their embedded cultural practices and ecosystem services. At Værlandet, Vestland, we will look at the grazing of Norse sheep on coastal heathlands and how the management of cultural landscapes meshes with nature protection. In Porsanger, Finnmark, the traditions of the coastal Sami will be in focus to explore the role that food traditions have in the revitalisation of Sami culture, and the challenges and opportunities present in terms of knowledge and identity, and land use. In Salten, Nordland, we address reindeer herding, and how climate change and increased carnivore pressure has increased levels of land use conflicts, and how this impact on livestock grazing and management of landscapes. In the selected coastal foodscapes, the project will investigate perceptions of constraints and opportunities for management, use and valuation of natural and cultural heritage. The role of how futures are imagined will be also be in focus as a potential resource for identifying shared values and cultural attributes of foodscapes. FOODCOASTs overall objective is to identify avenues for sustainable and integrated management of cultural landscapes, natural environments, and foodscapes. FOODCOASTs interdisciplinary team of researchers will engage closely with stakeholders and formal management at different levels through participatory research activities and targeted dissemination. During the projects first few months we have started the mapping of historical and present-day food production patterns and practices of the respective case study areas. Further fieldwork in the three areas is underway and will be carried out over the coming weeks and months. The analyses of the place of knowledge in the management of coastal food systems and cultural landscapes, and the role of ecosystem-based approaches is in a starting phase, together with a document and policy analysis informing the project as a whole. One year into the project, fieldwork in the three case areas Salten, Porsanger and Værlandet is well underway. In all the case areas mapping of historical and present-day production patterns and practices related to food and cultural landscapes is carried out, by way of interviews with key informants. At the same time, mapping and coding of policy document pertaining to heritage-based food production is carried out, at local, regional and national levels. A project seminar was arranged in February 2020 in Rognan, including meetings on cultural heritage and food culture with representatives from Saltdal municipality, as well as discussions with local food producers and small-scale entrepreneurs. A period with limited capacity at national archives and map services has made it difficult to carry out the planned analyses of landscape change over time, but this work is continued. Further, a survey (Q-sort) has been developed and is being carried out in the case areas, covering several of the project themes, but especially targeted towards spatial conflicts, values and future perspective. Much of the fieldwork in the project, including interviews, focus groups and workshops, has been difficult to carry out according plans due to restrictions on gathering people and travelling. During the fall of 2022 local workshops were carried out in Salten and Porsanger, with a focus on local food production, resource management and future visions, and a last workshop is planned for early 2023.