Peatlands and indigenous people
IPS peat symposium Latvia august 2014
Towards a social chapter of the SRPM (strategy for responsible peatland management)
AIntroduction
Paragraph 4.6 and 4.7 of the SRPM deal with information dissemination and the engagement of local people regarding peatland management.
Until now the IPS has primarily been an organization of people directly involved in peatlands, economically and scientifically. The peat industry has been the main driving force behind the IPS, so understandably the focus has been on technical and business issues which were discussedwithin the organization.
During the last ca. 15 years the ecological and biological aspects of peatlands have come to the fore, mainly in relation to climate change. Also pressures from conservationist sides have become stronger and partly turned against the extraction of peat.
Little attention so far has been given by IPS to the involvement of local communities in peatlands and to the social and cultural implications of industry and science. The program Towards a social chapter aims to remedy that.
The general public has very little knowledge of peatlands and the role the different stakeholders play. In part this is due to the fact that peatlands are found in mostly uninhabited areas. As a result there are a lot of misconceptions, which can be easily exploited, depending on the stance one likes to take.
So far the IPS has not succeeded in getting its message about responsible peatlandmanagement across to a wider audience. In part this is due to the relative invisibility of the IPS outside the peat family itself.
B An inspiration: the European Landscape Convention (ELC)
In the year 2000 the text of this convention, which is also being referred to as the Florence Conventionwas set by the Council of Europe. Since then 40 European countries have ratified this convention. It deals with landscapes in a holistic approach. “Landscape” means an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors.
In its preamble the convention states the main considerations:
-Concerned to achieve sustainable development based on a balanced and harmonious relationship between social needs, economic activity and the environment;
-Noting that the landscape (i.c. peatland) has an important public interest role in the cultural, ecological, environmental and social fields, and constitutes a resource favorable to economic activity and whose protection, management and planning can contribute to job creation;
-Aware that the landscape(i.c. peatland) contributes to the formation of local cultures and that it is a basic component of the European natural and cultural heritage, contributing to human well-being and consolidation of the European identity;
-Acknowledging that the landscape(i.c. peatland) is an important part of the quality of life for people everywhere: in urban areas and in the countryside, in degraded areas as well as in areas of high quality, in areas recognized as being of outstanding beauty as well as everyday areas;
-Noting that developments in agriculture, forestry, industrial and mineral production techniques and in regional planning, town planning, transport, infrastructure, tourism and recreation and, at a more general level, changes in the world economy are in many cases accelerating the transformation of landscapes(i.c. peatlands);
-Wishing to respond to the public’s wish to enjoy high quality landscapes (peatlands)and to play an active part in the development;
-Believing that the landscape(i.c. peatland)is a key element of individual and social well-being and that its protection, management and planning entail rights and responsibilities for everyone.
The relationships between the different components of the ELC is depicted in the following figure:
Source: Michael Dower, ‘Past and future of the European landscape’, in: Historisch GeografischTijdschrift 2012, 3
In the context of this paper especially the purple box is relevant. Although there are similarities between the SRPM and the ELC, the latter stresses the need to involve the general public much more. The IPS can benefit from this approach and deploy it on a worldwide scale. Seeing peatlands as a key element in individual and social well-being may seem a bit far-fetched, but seeking a closer relationship with the ELC approach might not be a bad idea. Also, it might be beneficial to make a distinction between peatlands as landscape (i.e. influenced by humans) and peatlands as undisturbed nature.
To give a social chapter sufficient body it is first of all necessary to try and fill the enormous gap in knowledge (inside and outside the IPS) on social and cultural issues in relation to peatlands. The national committees of the IPS have a crucial role in pointing us in the right directions.
C Questions for the National Committees of IPS
1 -Identify for each country the (local) communities which have a relationship with, or an involvement in,peatlands.
For instance: Pristine peatlands in the Netherlands have shrunk to a couple of nature reserves. The governing bodies of these reserves involve a lot of volunteers in their educational work, in taking inventoryof plant and animal species, in landscape maintenance etc.
2 -Identify the national, regional or local laws and regulations regarding peatlands.
For instance: Lower-Saxony imposes more and more restrictions in land-use planning to make new peat extraction virtually impossible.
3 -Is there (still) any form of communal (local) rights regarding peatlands.
For instance: The right of Dubliners to harvest their own peat in the Wicklow mountains in Ireland. Or Burns Bog in British Columbia (Canada) , which has been an important place for First Nations people in the area. They practiced controlled burning of patches for the growth of berries, an important supplement to their diet.
4 -Are there any religious or moral connotations linked to peatlands?
For instance: in prehistoric times people and artifacts seem to have been sacrificed in peat bogs for religious or ritualistic reasons.
5 -Do peatlands play any role in national, regional or local folklore?
For instance: moors are sometimes seen as mysterious places where ghost appear and people disappear
6 -Are peatlands a topic in the education in geography?
7 -Do peatlands have a place in national, regional and local touristic infrastructure?
For instance the Finnish walkways on the moors, or the German “Naturpark Moor”.
8 -Identify relevant persons who would be able to make a contribution from a national perspective to the social paragraph of the SRPM.
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