The Arctic regions are currently undergoing transformative changes linked to globalization and climate change, which pose challenges for current governance structures. This thesis investigates governance in times of change through the lens of reindeer pastoralism, and the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK)- based management in reindeer herding. While studies increasingly highlight the benefits of incorporating TEK into governance, a central challenge remains in finding ways to ensure integration. To contribute such knowledge, this thesis analyses how reindeer-herding local management systems interact with multiple processes of governance steering reindeer pastoralism, and the ways TEK is negotiated in such interactions. Theoretically, the thesis draws on literature on multi-level governance as an analytical framework for engaging with different types of governance processes and actors, and the literature on TEK to conceptualize local social institutions. Methodologically, a qualitative bottom-up methodological strategy (with local reindeer-herding groups and constellations – siidas, brigadas – forming the central starting point for the research) was adopted, focusing on cases from reindeer pastoralism in western Finnmark in northern Norway and Yamal in northwest Siberia. The results show that local reindeer herding organizations are incorporated into processes of governance through participatory, representative and deliberative processes for decision-making. Yet, such incorporation has not facilitated integration of the TEK to processes of governance. A central challenge is that current governance processes are formalized in a way that do not accommodate non-scientific ways of knowing, or non hierarchical consensus-based decision- making. The thesis thus highlights the need for holistic strategies for how to include TEK in governance. Co-management and participatory processes alone are not enough. / IPY EALÁT, the Reindeer Herders Vulnerability Network Study / RUF: Forvaltning i endring

The Nenets, an indigenous peoples in the North of Russia, are increasingly being affected by the gas industry. The increasing prioritisation of extractive industries, the status of the Arctic as a bellwether and the threatened situation of indigenous people in Russia has drawn greater attention to this field of study. One resulting issue concerns the relationship between the Nenets and the gas industry, especially regarding the traditional activity of the Nenets; reindeer pastoralism. The implications of this relationship remains little chronicled and understood, with only piecemeal attempts to consider the wider industry-indigenous pastoralism association. This thesis investigates this issue, with particular reference to the framework of energy justice and the Bovanenkovo gas field on the Yamal Peninsula. Energy justice is a relatively new theoretical framework that probes how justicial extractive industries are, whilst Bovanenkovo is a large and expanding gas field on the traditional territory of the Nenets. A systematic literature review has been employed as this thesis’ methodology, which has detailed the various frames by which the relationship on Yamal has been interpreted around the lens of energy justice. Overall, this review has revealed the presence of injustices on Yamal with distinct distributional, procedural and recognition injustices affecting reindeer pastoralism. The implicit nature by which energy justice is featured within the corpus’ authorship as well as the limited reference to the concept of justice are also demonstrated. A number of alternative frames characterising the relationship have also been elucidated, all of which contribute further to frames of injustice but also indicate remediation. A conclusion is drawn that the situation on Yamal remains complex with many different stakeholders, and that the indigenous Nenets remain ever-affected by resource extractive industries.