Monitoring and Assessment by Indigenous Peoples

EEA 2011

Patricia Cochran

www.nativescience.org

Traditional Knowledge and Contaminants

• Documents Traditional Knowledge about environmental changes throughout Alaska

• www.nativeknowledge.org Contents:Resource Guide for TribesSearch the databaseNative ConcernsResearch SummariesRelated Websites

Databases (cont)

– www.nativeknowledge.org • Alaska Traditional Knowledge and Native Foods. You can find

contaminant data, harvest data, consumption data, nutrition, community harvest descriptions, Native knowledge network, research on contaminants, research-based knowledge, and Native concerns for each village in Alaska.

B S S B S S NN

BSSN I StatisticsBSSN I Statistics

• Six villagesSix villages

• Two Arctic StatesTwo Arctic States

• Six indigenous Six indigenous cultures and cultures and languageslanguages

• Two working Two working languageslanguages

• ~300 participants~300 participants

• ~600 interviews~600 interviews

• ~20 researchers & ~20 researchers & local assistantslocal assistants

• Two data sets: Two data sets: qualitative and qualitative and quantitative quantitative

Observed Observed Changes in Changes in EnvironmenEnvironmen

tal tal ConditionsConditions

Working Group on Rural Alaska Self-Reliance (WGRAS)

Purpose:To promote and enhance self-reliance and well-being of rural Alaska communities as defined by the communities, through partnerships between the communities and the University of Alaska.

• The combination of changes in climate, rising fuel prices, and numerous social and economic pressures present challenges for the well-being of rural Alaskan communities.

• State and federal funding to address these problems is uncertain and may decline making it important that communities develop self-reliant strategies to envision the future they want and take steps to implement their vision.

• Historically research fails to meet the needs of communities because it is guided by the agenda of researchers and usually fails to respect and engage community members as full partners in the research.

• Many initiatives to address the well-being of Alaskan communities are insufficient because they are reactive rather than proactive, not holistic or interdisciplinary and are not well informed by local knowledge and wisdom.

Arctic Alliance

• The Arctic Alliance is a network of organizations with a mutual interest in sustainable community development and protection of the Arctic environment.

• Arctic Monitor, a weekly emailed resource providing updates on developments across the Arctic region. Arctic Monitor is circumpolar in scope, reporting on environmental, indigenous, economic and social issues that involve or affect the people of the North. www.arcticmonitor.net

• Community-based carbon assessment.

NRF - Northern Research Forum

NRF - 6th Open

Assembly

"Our Ice Dependent World"Hveragerdi, Iceland

4 - 6 September 2011www.nrf.is

RSE – Religion, Science & Environment

• 2009 – Mississippi River• 2007 – Arctic/Greenland • 2006 – Amazon• 2003 – Baltic Sea• 2002 – Adriatic Sea• 1999 – The Danube• 1997 – Black Sea• 1995 – The Aegean

• RSE is a movement originally conceived in 1988 on the Isle of Patmos, at a meeting of environmental and religious leaders, out of concern for the water environment of the planet.

• www.rsesymposia.org

• The goal of Many Strong Voices is to promote the well-being, security, and sustainability of coastal communities in the Arctic and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) by bringing these regions together to take action on climate change mitigation and adaptation, and to tell their stories to the world.

• The Arctic and SIDS are barometers of global environmental change. They are considered critical testing grounds for the ideas and programs that will strengthen the adaptive capacities of human societies confronting climate change.

• Lessons learned through MSV will support policy development at local, regional, and international levels. They will provide decision makers in the two regions with the knowledge to safeguard and strengthen vulnerable social, economic, and natural systems.

• www.manystrongvoices.org

UNFCCC – COP16Cancun, Mexico

• IIPFCC – International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change

IPCCSD – Indigenous Peoples’ Global Network on Climate Change and

Sustainable Development • Indigenous Peoples’ Global

Summit on Climate Change • Anchorage Declaration• The network, created in

the wake of the Summit,  brings together indigenous organizations from different countries that have on-the-ground work related to climate change and climate-sensitive development.

• www.indigenoussummit.com

 

Indigenous Ways of Knowing Contribute to Understanding the Ecosystem

Qualitative understanding of:

1) How cultures are sustained in extreme climates2) How/when/where to access subsistence foods3) Daily and seasonal weather patterns4) Sustainable food harvesting techniques and strategies5) Wildlife biology and behavior patterns6) How to adapt to climatic changes7) Complex natural interrelationships8) Abnormal natural phenomena in the context of long time periods9) Qualitative historical knowledge and information of the natural world

Benefits and Products• Help determine if observations of anomalies or changes are local,

regional, or ecosystem-wide in scope.

• Help identify emergent trends at their outset.

• Assist in developing hypotheses for declining marine species. Indigenous observers may provide information that lead to development of new, additional research parameters that might not have been added or would have been possible without the observer system.

• Local communities will be active participants and partners in research, ensuring more support for efforts of the scientists and enhancing opportunities for future partnerships.

Benefits• Usable data will be gathered that may provide some degree of

ground-truthing to scientific data gathering.

• Student observers will increase their observation skills, contact with local Elders, and become more engaged in science that is immediately relevant to their communities.

• Properly constructed processes and protocols could be replicated in other areas until observer coverage includes many indigenous communities.

• Engaged indigenous organizations will become more active participants in scientific conferences and workshops thus increasing value and information.