“It’s in Our DNA”: Climate Change and Perceived Resilience and Adaptive Capacity in Nature-Based Tourism in Lofoten, Norway.

In 2018, tourism was the fastest growing sector in the world, accounting for 10 percent of all jobs worldwide and 10.4% of the world’s GDP. Tourism is often cited as a strategy for future development at national, regional, and local levels. This paper takes a closer look at the Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway, where the increase in nature-based tourism over the last two decades has occurred in parallel with the restructuring of the traditional fisheries. Nature-based tourism in rural regions relies heavily on a broad range of ecosystem services (ES). This paper will present how stakeholders in nature-based tourism assess the influence of climate change on ES crucial for their activities and for the destination, and outline and explain how the practitioners perceive their ability to withstand or adapt to these changes. With the aid of models depicting potential future climate scenarios, we initiated discussions with stakeholders and found that tourism actors have only to a minor degree sought to develop strategies to increase adaptive capacity and therefore resilience to climate change. Based on our findings, we discuss how the adaptive capacity of individual actors in nature-based tourism forms the basis for the system’s resilience, and that a general resilience focus also forms the basis for transformational capacity, a capacity needed for future resilience. In light of our findings and analyses, we will conclude by reflecting on overarching systemic transformative tendencies in the wake of COVID-19 and obligations contained in the Paris Agreement on reducing global emissions.

Is Skrei a Historical Norwegian Figure? The Nomadic Symbiosis of Fish and Humans in the Lofoten Islands

This paper draws from short ethnographic fieldwork and collected oral histories in the Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway in 2019. In this paper I follow “skrei”, the Norwegian codfish (Gadus morhua). I explore what I call the “nomadic symbiosis” of islanders and skrei via their diachronic entanglements, as these appear in historical and present narratives, in changing ideas around economic development and progress, but also in the changes in the physical and political landscapes. These moments of connection, all challenge human-centric views arguing for skrei’s agency in cuisine-making, but also vis-à-vis identity-making, as skrei became recognized conjuring a newfound sense of belonging and becoming part of an imagined community within the Lofoten islands and beyond. I argue that these meaningful interactions create worlds that decenter human agency and revisit the notion of cuisine and nation-building processes as truly multispecies entanglements.

Considering time in climate justice

Time shapes every single human–environment relationship and is inherent in 21st-century global challenges such as climate change and the urgent move towards global sustainability. Nonetheless, the concept of time is still insufficiently addressed in climate justice debates. This paper aims to help fill this gap by presenting empirical results about experiences of climate change in farming communities in Tamil Nadu, South India, and fishing communities on the Lofoten Islands, Norway. With the help of the five dimensions of affectedness, rhythms and rituals, slow motion, care, and health and well-being, it exemplifies how time matters to issues of climate injustices faced by the communities. The paper promotes a qualitative understanding of time and climate change. Thereby, it may stimulate greater relatability to climate change, as well as discussion likely to lead to conceptual advances.

Shaping Climbers’ Experiencescapes: The Influence of History on the Climbing Experience

Climbing is increasingly popular in certain destinations, yet there is little knowledge of the influence of history on climbing and other adventure tourism experiences. Climbing destinations renowned within the climbing community may well be unknown to the broader tourist masses. Using qualitative interviews of climbers visiting the Lofoten Islands, Norway, this article examines how the historical context of climbing has played a part in shaping the climbers’ experiences. The study discusses the influence of history, authenticity, storytelling, and image on today’s experiencescape for climbers. It is revealed how the climbing community is influenced by history through the dissemination of stories and knowledge about places, routes, and iconic climbers. Moreover, authenticity is recognized in the perception of the place and the types of route; this includes existential authenticity, where the climbing image of Lofoten remains authentic. The climbing community together shapes the experiencescape through a mutual devotion to the climbing culture.

“It’s All about the Scenery”: Tourists’ Perceptions of Cultural Ecosystem Services in the Lofoten Islands, Norway

The Lofoten Islands in northern Norway face challenges from increasing visitor numbers, congestion, environmental impacts, and growing host-visitor tensions. Benefits include increased local employment and growing revenues. Future tourism policy requires better documentation of the non-economic benefits and values associated with tourism in Lofoten; this information is important to the development of policy and management processes. We conducted 45 in-depth interviews with domestic and international visitors, using the cultural ecosystem services (ES) framework to ascertain the core elements of the tourism experience, as well as views on management needs and development. We probed reflections on place, aesthetics, recreational opportunities, inspiration, social relations, cultural heritage, knowledge, spirituality, and identity by offering a combination of statements and questions. All these categories of cultural ES were important to most visitors. However, the importance of the landscape was paramount. Policy implications include the need to include landscape in ES assessments, to map places of especially high scenic value, and to use the ES framework more extensively to identify and compare non-economic and economic tourism values and benefits.