Indigenous Villages Check the Bering’s Pulse
By Clive Tesar
People from six villages, three on the Alaskan side of the Bering Strait, and three on the Russian side, are taking part in a ground-breaking monitoring program designed to track changes in the area. The Bering Sea Sub-Network (BSSN) will include the communities of Sand Point, Gambell, and Togiak in Alaska. They will be joined by Nikolskoye, Tymlat and Kanchalan in Russia. These sites provide broad coverage of the Bering Sea, and represent communities with a strong tradition of local and indigenous Knowledge.
This is a wonderful opportunity to draw on the wealth of knowledge possessed by Indigenous Peoples on both sides of the Bering Sea,
says Victoria Gofman, principal investigator of the BSSN.
What struck me as I travelled to the villages has how eager people were to share that knowledge, and to have an opportunity to do something about the changes that are affecting their communities.
Posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007
Under: Aleut, Climate Change, International polar year, Russia, traditional knowledge | 1 Comment »