Arctic Auditories: Hydrospheres in the High North. Elizabeth Barron is participating as a work package leader in Arctic Auditories (AA), led by Katrin Losleben at University of Tromsø. This project uses participatory feminist methodologies to examine the soundscapes of the Arctic, and how they are changing because of climate change.

Threatened Lifelines: Analysing and managing the impacts of shrinking glaciers and snow cover on water flows and livelihoods in mountain communities of the Indian Himalayas

The interdisciplinary project links human-geographic research with hydrological modelling.

It is led by Martin C. Lukas together with Oddbjørn Bruland from the Department of Engineering and involves Pascal E. Egli and the PhD candidates Niklas Torresson and Akshayi Ajaykumar Shyma.

Cryosphere Science Concluding in new Observations and Productive Exploitation (CryoSCOPE) is a Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action (RIA) project aimed at understanding and quantifying the physical and chemical processes within the coupled Cryosphere–Atmosphere–Hydrosphere (CAH) system across diverse cold-region landscapes, including Finnish Lapland, Iceland, the Indian Himalayas, the Swiss Alps, Norway, and Svalbard. The project seeks improved comprehension of how land ice, snow, and permafrost interact with atmospheric and hydrological systems, and evaluate their sensitivity to climate change in these regions.

The project’s NTNU component is led by Pascal E. Egli. Martin leads the project’s social science component.

This project is led by Barron, with Elaina Weber. Gathering wild plants and fungi provides food, income and nutritional diversity for an estimated 1 in 5 people around the world, in particular women, children, and others in vulnerable situations. Results of surveys conducted in Europe, North America, and the United Kingdom over the last 20 years suggest high rates of participation in gathering by individuals and households. In Norway it is well known that collecting wild foods is a popular activity through amateur societies, clubs, and as part of traditional family practice. In addition to these biophysical, material and cultural elements, at the local level gathering wild plants and fungi provides a key way in which people interact with and “know nature”, which in turn influences their motivations and perspectives on nature conservation and environmental policy. At the international level Norway participates in biodiversity governance through active membership in such platforms as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and is positioning itself to be a global leader in biodiversity conservation and sustainability. This research project will examine the intersection of these domestic-facing practices and the international-facing science-policy agendas of the Norwegian government at national and international levels. Identifying synergies and tensions across scales can uncover potential issues for environmental management and the uptake of biodiversity agendas by local and regional communities. The analysis will contribute to theory building on emplaced sustainability and the inclusion of diverse knowledge and value systems in biodiversity governance.