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Presentation short abstract

This paper uses ethnographic data of a Norwegian foragers' association to show how foragers negotiate norms for access rights, harvesting techniques, and political action. Their narratives of conservation versus sustainable use help further theorize sustainability as place-based and contested.

Presentation long abstract

Allemannsretten – the Norwegian right of public access – allows for foraging across almost all forests, mountains, meadows, and coastlines, and roughly half of the Norwegian population picks berries and mushrooms each year. Recently, increased commercial and private interest led to wild garlic’s listing as near threatened and to exploiting migrant, seasonal moss harvesters. In this context, interactive governance for sustainability depends on state law, foragers’ interpretations of those laws, and developing informal norms for best practice. To understand how sustainable gathering is governed in Norway, I draw on three years of multisited ethnography including interviews, participant observation, and document analysis centered around the Norwegian Association for Mycology and Foraging (NSNF). I find that NSNF’s channels are key discursive arenas for civic-induced interactive governance. By highlighting specific species, I illustrate how NSNF members negotiate (1) conflicting interpretations of allemannsretten and related laws, (2) their own guidelines for place-based sustainable foraging practices, and (3) foragers’ political duties to protect nature and allemannsretten. The Association balances portraying foragers as threats and stewards, prioritizing both nature conservation and sustainable use. This study puts scholarship on non-timber forest product (NTFP) governance in conversation with critical geographic scholarship that theorizes sustainability as emplaced and contested. It also offers a counterexample to most NTFP literature: Norway is a wealthy welfare state with a strong rule of law and liberal access rights. This study illustrates tensions in interpreting allemannsretten to prioritize recreation and economic development over self-provisioning and sufficiency, paralleling similar debates in neighboring Sweden and Finland.