Climate and Food Security in the Arctic with Global Consequences

Course dates

3 March 2025 – 18 May 2025

Registration period

16 December 2024 – 8 February 2025

Coordinating university

University of Lapland, Arctic Centre

Instructors

Bamidele Raheem
Panu Itkonen
Ahmad Cheikhyoussef

Credits

5 ECTS ECTS

Course level

General

Course dates: 03.03. - 25.04.2025
Registration dates: 16.12.2024 - 8.2.2025
Coordinating university: University of Lapland, Arctic Centre. Course code on Peppi: ASPB1112
Responsible teacher: Bamidele Raheem (if.dnalpalu@meehar.eledimab); Panu Itkonen (if.dnalpalu@nenokti.unap) in collaboration with Ahmad Cheikhyoussef (University of Namibia).
Credits: 5 ECTS
Course offered: 1/3

Course summary:

The twin problem of climate change and food security requires collaborative efforts at a global level. Food insecurity has been associated with several diet-related chronic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. This course takes a critical look at the impacts of climate change on the food system in the Arctic and how this is reflected in other parts of the globe. The aims of the course are linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 2 and 3 in the Global South. We will combine multidisciplinary expertise from Arctic studies, food science, food safety, history and anthropology to address these issues holistically. On completion of the course, students will gain a better knowledge on the interconnectedness of climate change, food and agriculture. Students will carry out independent studies, keep a reflective journal and write an essay for the final assessment.

Learning outcomes:

After completion of the course, engaged students should be able to:

• Understand why the food system need to change on a global scale.
• Know the connection between climate and food security in the Global North and South.
• Have a better grasp of Sami Indigenous people in Global North and San in the Global South in respect of their relation to nature and its resources.
• Understand the cultural changes among the Sami, with emphasis on Skolt Sami, especially in terms of livelihood and in relations to natural resources historically
• Provide basic information about the details and evolution of food security and livelihood activities of the Sami, with emphasis on Skolt Sami from the 1860s to the present day
• Contextualize and analyse their findings on case studies from the course through their own research.

Learning methods:

The teaching and learning methods will engage a mix of different approaches to engage students’ learning styles during the duration of the course. There will be asynchronous lectures delivered by the course lecturers, we will also feature expert guest lecturers on the different scientific, cultural and historical applications on food security and climate change. The integration of scientific and indigenous knowledge to address climate and food security challenges from both Global North and South perspectives will be emphasized.

Completion methods:

• Self-directed independent learning and a reflective journal to be kept by students.
• Discussion sessions: group discussions and activities aimed at deepening student’s scientific understanding of the interplay between climate change, sea-ice, coastal parts of the globe and food security. Panel discussion with experts.
• Critical reflections: structured critical reflection for situating the philosophical aspects of development, food security, nutrition with social, global, cultural and historical contexts.
• Post-course academic collaboration: There will be an opportunity to invite students that can work together as a group and be assigned to lecturers/instructors to explore the opportunity to jointly collaborate on a research topic of interest that will be submitted to an open access international journal.
• We will also encourage various types of group work and activities throughout the course, up to and including the post course academic collaboration. We aim to develop a group rapport that facilitates the exchange of ideas and foster virtual collaboration amongst all participating students.

Study material:

All the study materials and links to related video contents will be available on Moodle portal and there will be focus on utilizing open access resources and resources that are authored by scholars from the Global South.

Suggested articles:

1. Bogdanova, E., Andronov, S., Soromotin, A., Detter , G., Sizov, O., Hossain, K., Raheem, D., & Lobanov, A. (2021). The Impact of Climate Change on the Food (In)security of the Siberian Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic: Environmental and Health Risks. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(5), 1-23. [2561]. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052561.
2. Raheem, D., Dayoub, M., Birech, R., & Nakiyemba, A. (2021). The Contribution of Cereal Grains to Food Security and Sustainability in Africa: Potential Application of UAV in Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, and Namibia. Urban Science, 5(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci5010008
3. Raheem, D. (2020). Digitalisation in a local food system: Emphasis on Finnish Lapland. Open Agriculture, 5(1), 496-508. [5]. https://doi.org/10.1515/opag-2020-0049
4. Redvers N, Aubrey P, Celidwen Y, Hill K (2023) Indigenous Peoples: Traditional knowledges, climate change, and health. PLOS Glob Public Health 3(10): e0002474. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0002474
5. Blue Bird Jernigan V, Maudrie TL, Nikolaus CJ, Benally T, Johnson S, Teague T, et al. Food Sovereignty Indicators for Indigenous community capacity building and health. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 2021;5.
6. Lugo-Morin DR. Indigenous communities and their food systems: a contribution to the current debate. J Ethnic Foods. 2020;7(1): 6.
7. Schramm PJ, Al Janabi AL, Campbell LW, Donatuto JL, Gaughen SC. How Indigenous communities are adapting to climate Change: insights from the climate-ready tribes Initiative: analysis examines how Indigenous communities are adapting to climate change. Health Affairs. 2020;39(12): 2153–9.
8. Fanzo J. Healthy and sustainable diets and food systems: the key to achieving sustainable development goal 2? Food ethics. 2019;4(2): 159–74.
9. Armanda, D. T., Guinée, J. B., & Tukker, A. (2019). The second green revolution: Innovative urban agriculture’s contribution to food security and sustainability – A review. Global Food Security, 22, 13-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2019.08.002
10. FAO, 2013. Food Security and Sovereignty. https://www.fao.org/3/ax736e/ax736e.pdf accessed on 08/11/2023.
11. Maudrie, T. L., Nguyen, C. J., Wilbur, R. E., Mucioki, M., Clyma, K. R., Ferguson, G. L., & Jernigan, V. B. B. (2023). Food Security and Food Sovereignty: The Difference Between Surviving and Thriving. Health promotion practice, 24(6), 1075–1079.
12. Sampson D, Cely-Santos M, Gemmill-Herren B, Babin N, Bernhart A, Bezner Kerr R, Blesh J, Bowness E, Feldman M, Gonçalves AL, James D, Kerssen T, Klassen S, Wezel A and Wittman H (2021). Food Sovereignty and Rights-Based Approaches Strengthen Food Security and Nutrition Across the Globe: A Systematic Review. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 5:686492. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2021.686492
13. FAO, 2014. Food Sovereignty Systems: Feeding the World, Regenerating Ecosystems, Rebuilding Local Economies, and Cooling the Planet – all at the same tim-e. -https://afsafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/AFSA-Document.pdf Accessed on 08-11-2023.
14. Itkonen, Panu 2021 article “Skolt Sami and industrialization: State-directed territorialization and commodification in the Arctic borderlands” in Anu Lounela, Tuomas Tammisto and Matti Eräsaari (eds.) Suomen Antropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society, Special issue: Frontier making through territorial processes. Qualities and possibilities of life. Issue 46 (1) pp. 59–76. Helsinki: Finnish Anthropological Society. https://journal.fi/suomenantropologi/issue/view/7941
15. Itkonen, Panu 2018 article “Changing Work Patterns of the Skolt Sami” in Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics 12 (1): 49–57. https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/265.
16. Itkonen, Panu, 2023: “Environmental Sustainability Generated by the Views of the Skolt Sami and Gregory Bateson” in Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics 16 (2): 290–307DOI: 10.2478/jef-2022-0023 Environmental Sustainability Generated by the Views of the Skolt Sami and Gregory Bateson
17. Itkonen, Panu, 2021 November: “Skolt Sami and industrialization: State-directed territorialization and commodification in the Arctic borderlands” in Anu Lounela, Tuomas Tammisto and Matti Eräsaari (eds.) Suomen Antropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society, Special issue: Frontier making through territorial processes. Qualities and possibilities of life. Issue 46 (1) pp. 59–76. Helsinki: Finnish Anthropological Society. https://journal.fi/suomenantropologi/issue/view/7941
18. Itkonen, Panu 2020: “Reindeer ownership among the Skolt Sami” in the open access journal Open Agriculture (Managing Editor Agnieszka Topolska, PhD) https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/opag.2019.4.issue-1/opag-2019-0072/opag-2019-0072.xml?format=INT

Assessment criteria:

Verbal and written feedback by lecturers on the lectures, exercises, group work and independent work.

Requirements: Active participation in the lectures, reading requested course materials, participation in group work, a successful completion of a learning diary, and a final 3000 words essay.

Grade 0 Fail; Pass grade 1 – 5, based on the following criteria:

• Fail (0): Essay is highly deficient or erroneous. The work may be based on serious misunderstandings.
• Sufficient and satisfactory (1-2): The scores are 50-60% (1); 60-70% (2). Essay is lacking in scope, superficial, or corresponds poorly to the assignment. The author merely lists things out of context or addresses them one-sidedly. The work may contain errors or obscurities.
• Good and very good (3-4): The scores are 70-80% (3); 80-90% (4). Essay corresponds to the assignment, manifesting comprehension and a skill to analyse and justify. The author has addressed the issue comprehensively. The work may contain some deficiencies
• Excellent (5): The score should be 90% and above. Essay delineates an extensive whole and the author can apply knowledge in a multifaceted way or place it in various contexts. The work manifests independency and insight, and it is a flawless entity that involves justified thinking or critical contemplation. The work is well written and implemented.

Maximum number of students:

120

Course timetable:

The course consists of 14 sessions starting from 3 March 2025 at 12:00 (Finnish time), and continuing until 25 April 2025, according to the following schedule:

DATE	WEEKDAY	TIME
03.03.2025	Monday	12:00-13:00
04.03.2025	Tuesday	12:00-13:00
10.3.2025	Monday	12:00-14:00
11.3.2025	Tuesday	12:00-14:00
13.3.2025	Thursday	12:00-13:00
17.3.2025	Monday	12:00-14:00
18.3.2025	Tuesday	12:00-14:00
31.3.2025	Monday	12:00-14:00
7.4.2025	Monday	12:00-13:00
8.4.2025	Tuesday	12:00-14:00
14.4.2025	Monday	12:00-14:00
15.4.2025	Tuesday	12:00-14:00
21.4.2025	Monday	12:00-13:00
25.4.2025	Friday	12:00-13:00

March 3rd - March 18th, 2025: 11 hours lectures

Food security, food system definitions. Dimensions of food security. The complexity of our food systems. How food systems and climate change are inextricably linked. Agrobiodiversity in the Anthropocene. The way we grow, process, distribute, eat, and dispose food contributes to climate change, with effects on sustainability. Discussion on transforming the global food system into sustainable food systems. Resilience and coping mechanisms to ensure food security for individuals and households in the Arctic. Resilience measurement priorities. We will take a critical look as to why and how the future of food in the Arctic and the Global South need to address the stark and urgent realities of climate change.

Cultural Changes among the Sami, especially in forms of livelihood and in relations to natural resources with emphasis on the food system. This segment of the lecture describes changes in Skolt Sami forms of livelihood during last hundred years. Moreover, the lecture analyzes changes in Sami people’s relation to nature and natural resources. Group work will be encouraged.

March 31st – April, 25th, 2025: 11 hours lectures

The relationship between climate change, agriculture and food security in Arctic context. How food sovereignty is expressed in different spatial contexts, the interconnection of food to the SDGs. What does it mean to be food sovereign? How can food sovereignty be used as a trans-regional framing device in the debate of eco-cultural issues and other dialogues? Food Sovereignty Systems. Food, nutrition security and food sovereignty. Resilience, Food Security and Food Systems. Food sovereignty and food governance. An understanding of the common language between policy makers, academics, and grassroots activists towards resilience, food security and sovereignty. The case of San indigenous group of Namibia, the indigenous knowledge associated with food preservation, hunting and gathering to support food security.

Additional information:

The course is targeted for Master's level students from any academic discipline. However, motivated under- and postgraduate students are welcome to apply. The language of instruction is English. The course will be delivered in collaboration with the University of Namibia, Namibia.

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