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This is an overview of current metadata needs for the social science related to our three main case study regions: The Disko Bay (West Greenland), Isfjorden (Svalbard) and the Porsangerfjord (Northern Norway). The report provides a brief introduction to the mapping of data conducted so far, which will function as our point of departure for the next milestones focusing on the case study design and coming dialogue with local communities preparing for the co-production of knowledge processes for understanding societal and environmental changes. One unique aspect of FACE-IT is that we are not looking at one-directional impacts, which is often the case in climate research where the typical approach is to understanding how climate change impacts society. In FACE-IT, we are also studying how local human activities are having an impact on biodiversity and the coastal ecosystems. To do this successfully, we need data on both the extent of human activities and how these may change biodiversity and the ecosystems. The social scientists, therefore, need data on ecosystem and biodiversity changes over time. One of the most significant gaps in climate research is a failure to attend to climate emergencies in everyday life. In WP4, it is the ambition to study linkages between social and environmental changes by applying the SES framework (social-ecological systems) and in that way to develop novel insights on adaptive co-management for sustainability and future livelihoods. The SES serves as a framework to diagnose the sustainability of socio-ecological systems. In this report, we will draw inspiration from the SES framework to identify relevant social science data and potential data needs from WP1. Since the beginning of FACE-IT, we have developed the SES framework (Fig. 1). The new elements added are marked with the color red. We expect to make further developments (to the model) as we conduct ethnographic fieldwork and scenario workshops.H2020 Project - Grant no.: 869154

This article explores the importance of contact with nature to subjective well-being (SWB) in Greenland. Through a qualitative approach based on 70 face-to-face interviews in 13 towns and villages in North, South, East, and Central Greenland the objective is firstly to explore and discuss perceptions of nature and its importance to SWB. Secondly, the article expands the discussion to include a theoretical debate about how Greenlandic people perceive and interact with nature. This study reveals that nature is highly important to SWB with little variation among locations. More notably, the findings indicate variation in what nature means and how nature is perceived. The importance of nature to SWB highly involves recreational contact with nature, suggesting a possible development towards a paradigm shift in the common perceptions of nature among Greenlandic Inuit, where people mostly perceive nature as an external domain rather than a domain that transcends the physical and meta-physical, as traditional views on nature have been described previously.

This report summarizes how the case study design has been co-developed and presented for feedback to stakeholders in the two case studies in FACE-IT’s WP5 and WP4.The case study design build on the work packages analytical framework for analyzing local sustainability and adaptive capacity in local food provision and livelihoods in Svalbard, Porsanger, Norway, and Disco Bay, Greenland as well has how interlinkages with the changing climate and ecosystems could be identified. It defines methods for data collection, inclusive participatory scenario workshops, strategies for selecting informants and stakeholders, and outlines a plan for the data collection.

This article discusses life modes and subjective wellbeing in Greenland from a social scientific perspective. Based on interviews conducted in South Greenland in spring 2018, the article seeks to give insight to the interrelation between subjective wellbeing and life modes. Furthermore, the article will discuss this interrelation in the light of Greenland’s potential independence.

Studies of how the development of industries impacts resident quality of life in Greenland have largely focused on fisheries and mining neglecting the emerging tourism industry in the country. In this article, we aim to contribute to the eduction of this gap within academia and praxis by exploring how the developing tourism industry in South Greenland interrelates with resident quality of life in this area. Based on the lack of existing academic literature and public awareness within tourism and quality of life in South Greenland, we investigate the relevance of the tourism industry, specifically farm tourism, effect on resident quality of life. Through a small-scale exploratory case study of farm stays in South Greenlandic settlements, we aim to create an understanding of how resident quality of life and farm tourism interrelates. By applying the bottom-up spillover theory as theoretical frame, we investigate whether generated income from farm tourism can contribute to people’s state of wellbeing, but also that there is more to wellbeing than “just” money. Based on generated data, our study concludes that there is a close interrelation between farm tourism and resident QoL in South Greenland. Subsequently, we argue that there are relevant grounds in a larger perspective for further research within the field of tourism and QoL in Greenland.