Traditional and local knowledge in land use planning: Insights into the use of the Akwé: Kon guidelines in Eanodat, Finnish Sápmi

The 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, Article 8(j) in particular, requires its parties to “respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of Indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles.” In Finland,
these requirements are, to some extent, fulfilled through application of the Akwé: Kon Voluntary Guidelines, a protocol developed By the CBD for cultural, environmental, and social impact assessment to be applied in regions inhabited or used by Indigenous peoples. However, although the Akwé: Kon Guidelines have been in use for several years, studies addressing their practical application are scarce. We set out to examine the use of the Akwé: Kon Guidelines, inclusion of traditional and local knowledge (TLK), as well as the related improvements and challenges in land use planning in the Municipality of Eanodat in Finnish Sápmi. We conducted keyinformant interviews with local Sámi experts and local land use planning officials and examined recent land use and management plans
for wilderness and conservation areas. Regarding the incorporation of TLK into land use planning, officials identified practical challenges, such as a mismatch between the oral narrative nature of TLK and the planning systems currently in use, and pointed to a need to make TLK more spatially explicit. The concerns of the Sámi were deeply tied to the survival of their culture and traditional
livelihoods, reindeer herding in particular. The Sámi informants were unanimous about the need to amend the Reindeer Husbandry Act (848/1990), to better recognize the traditional Sámi ways of herding and knowledge embedded in it. Having strengthened the opportunities of the Sámi to participate in management planning, application of the Akwé: Kon Guidelines is a much welcome
development. However, because of the voluntary nature of the Guidelines, their power may be limited in the current situation, where Sámi herders’ rights are not settled in national legislation governing reindeer husbandry.