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The Canadian Arctic is a complex and fragile region which is currently experiencing unprecedented environmental degradation due to climate change. The effects of climate change on the Canadian Arctic is just one example where we're seeing the decline of ecosystems and socio-culture-environmental traditions. Mineral development in this already fragile ecosystem is indeed a contentious and high-risk endeavour. However, mining is currently one of the few industries and economic development opportunities in the Canadian Arctic, which is one of the poorest regions in Canada. Unfortunately, mining struggles to achieve environmental sustainability due to mineral development's inherent trade-off of short-term economic gains for long-term environmental impacts. Local communities are usually left with trying to find this balance. This paper analyzes how we can apply decision-making techniques and environmental management tools for the Canadian Arctic's mining industry to promote better environmental sustainability, understanding of environmental-economic trade-offs, and community involvement. Specific decision-making methodologies and management tools are analyzed to develop, discuss, and explore their application for the Canadian Arctic. This paper concludes with a framework that brings together the analyzed methods and Arctic specificities; to prioritize environmental issues and to ensure long-term thriving communities in the Arctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a framework for the collection and management of knowledge related to food security in Canada. This paper has several goals. First, the paper summarizes the current state of food security knowledge in Canada. Second, the paper presents data from an experiment where food security issues were discussed by stakeholders at two fora, the first of which was held in western Canada and the second held in eastern Canada. Finally, based on the notes taken during and feedback received after the fora, this paper suggests a framework for organizing and managing the multiple perspectives and complex types of knowledge about food security and sustainable development from a Canadian context. Two fora were held in Canada where food security issues were presented and discussed by multiple stakeholders. Most provinces in Canada were represented in at least one of the two sessions. Sessions were designed to be informative and interactive; agenda were designed to take advantage of the needs and experiences of multiple stakeholders in both western and eastern regions of Canada. To develop the framework, the sessions were also designed to assess the types of issues and knowledge about food security in Canada. Evidence presented from this experiment supports arguments that food security work must be approached in a collaborative manner, no matter the approach or discipline. Data from fora held in western and eastern regions of Canada indicate a number of specific ways in which those along the food continuum have the desire to share knowledge and enter into partnerships to work toward secure and sustainable food systems. Data also indicate how academia and institutions of higher learning might play a key role in sharing food security-based knowledge. The data from this study suggest that academia could play a leadership role in collecting and sharing information about food security-based knowledge from all disciplinary approaches that could help collaborative in addressing the complexity of food security challenges. The framework developed in this paper could provide the guide for organizing knowledge about food security and sustainable development. The framework could be used as a map to guide understanding about the different ways in which food security can be approached and understood; this could help reduce tensions among partners in projects where a wide variety of experiences are attempting to work collaboratively. The two food security fora brought together stakeholders with specialized knowledge about food security in a Canadian context. The analysis of data arising from the fora permitted unique insights to arise about the nature of knowledge by region. The data in this study also allowed us to build a framework for food security knowledge from these regional knowledge bases. This paper suggests that academia actively take a leadership role and openly share knowledge about food security. Open sharing of knowledge will help collaborates in dealing with complex food security issues understand in-depth other approaches; this sharing may help to make explicit the tensions that arise during collaborative work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India and Canada share a common heritage in natural resources management. Both have a colonial background, settlers and indigenous peoples; there is a history of management agencies with utilitarian attitudes, and a history of treating public lands as commodities for commerce rather than as resources for local livelihoods. This historical context guided the overall goal of this study, which was policy development for the sustainable use of mountain environments. Interviews, workshops and seminars were held with local people and resource management professionals in a comparative case study in two regions; the Kullu area in Himachal Pradesh, India and the Arrow Lakes area in BritishColumbia, Canada. The paper is organized around two main objectives of the work relating to the successes and failures of mountain environment resource management policies and the development of criteria for assessing and monitoring sustainability in mountain environments, in particular, criteria for examining relevant cross-cultural dimensions of sustainable development in these environments. By way of conclusion the paper considers further ways in which traditional resource policy development and implementation is being challenged by changing values and priorities; ecosystems management with people; and co-management and public participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognizing the limitations common to both centralized and privatized management regimes, institutionalized resource management is beginning to incorporate the knowledge and skills of local resource users, coupled with the enabling policies and legislation of state systems, to arrive at cooperative approaches to resource management. These varying and dynamic approaches to resource management have been compelled largely through the recognition of the limited capabilities of existing management systems to adapt effectively to ecosystem change and the evolving needs of resource users. These cooperative approaches tomanagement should not, however, be considered an institutional end-point, but rather a phase in the perpetual transition of a social system; each unique in character and individually variable depending on the resource being managed, the political climate in which management occurs, as well as the differing strategies employed by resource users to enact institutional change. Drawing from the experiences of the Whitefish Lake First Nation of Alberta, Canada, this paper presents abrief overview of the evolution of resource management theory, grounded in the real-world formation of the Whitefish Lake First Nation - Province of Alberta Cooperative Management Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the issue of data requirements for sustainable decision making. Three sustainability criteria are examined and issuesarising from their application and data requirements are discussed. Notes and experiences from two case studies involving the North Central Project and the Assiniboine Delta Aquifer, both in the Province ofManitoba, Canada are included. The major issue encountered through the case studies was the inclusion of qualitative data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]