Arctic Peoples

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

by Clive Tesar

Reindeer herders from countries around the Arctic are meeting to trade knowledge and strategies for dealing with warming temperatures. The workshops are one branch of the Ealát Project, an initiative to look at the vulnerabilities of reindeer herders, and conduct research on how herders might adapt to climate change. Anders Oskal, Director of the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry says,

“Independent of what’s causing climate change, it’s happening now so while others may be discussing the causes, reindeer husbandry and indigenous societies need to work out strategies on how to cope with this issues. This project is supposed to be a contribution to that.”

Oskal hopes that at least six workshops will be held, covering the main herding regions: The Saami region (northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula); the four reindeer herding areas in Russia (Nenets, Yamal, Sakha/Yakutia, Chukotka) and Alaska (United States). The meetings will include people from a variety of different regions, so that they may share knowledge between them.
Read the rest of this entry »

By Sean Doherty

Research is a useful and powerful tool in understanding how climate change affects the Arctic, but it can easily miss parts of the story. Consulting with people in northern communities, and including their local environmental knowledge helps make the knowledge produced relevant to Arctic peoples, and increases the fullness and accuracy of the research.

The International Polar Year (IPY) that is officially launched this spring will involve many different projects that promise to focus on including stakeholders and their priorities. With this growing interest in stakeholders (residents, groups and local industries who will be affected by environmental changes in a study locale), it is important that terms such as ‘community involvement’ or ‘stakeholder’ do not become buzz-words thrown into research proposals out of convention, to appear relevant, or as a means to get funding. Stakeholder involvement cannot be taken lightly.
Read the rest of this entry »