Nature-based culture as an asset in vulnerable communities

Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE)

Nature-based culture as an asset in vulnerable communities

Objectives

Local culture in all its possible meanings, ranging from cultural activities to cultural understandings of nature, can be a critical asset for building community resilience. This is often the case in particular in areas which are vulnerable environmentally, socially and culturally, due to e.g. climate, harsh natural conditions, sparse population. This project will undertake an in-depth study of resourcefulness and resilience from a cultural perspective, focusing in particular on adaptation and transformation processes in environmentally and socially vulnerable communities. A special emphasis will be given to the well-being that is constituted through human-nature relationships and issues of justice in the power relations between internal and external actors. (As a potential case: Kvarken Archipelago, listed on the UNESCO World Natural Heritage list.

Expected Results

Knowledge of culture as an asset in building community resilience; Guidelines on innovative, empowering and just practices for co-producing resilience between internal and external actors in vulnerable communities; Assessment of potential of visualisation techniques to enable empowering and just practices.

Current member