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Traditional food harvesting is an integral part of culture and food security for Indigenous people in Canada and elsewhere. However, new generations are more inclined to consuming market foods rather than traditional foods. We report on a project in Norway House Cree Nation, northern Manitoba, Canada, to engage youth to express their thoughts about traditional food. The objective was to explore the understanding and values of Indigenous youth about traditional foods and to engage them in revitalizing culture toward long-term food security. We used participatory research approaches and engaged participants in focus group discussions followed by a collaborative art project. Our conceptual framework postulates a cycle whereby food security planning depends on engaging youth and the community, and planning in turn energizes further planning and participatory education. The findings of the article are likely of interest to Indigenous communities dealing with planning and intergenerational issues around food security.

Indigenous communities commonly face a major impediment in their ongoing efforts to participate effectively in the stewardship and sustainable management of their traditional lands, waters and resources. Externally driven projects and policies can overwhelm communities' abilities to respond, severely impact in their resource base, and significantly eclipse traditional knowledge, practices and values. Such projects and policies can be devastating to small, Indigenous communities struggling to maintain their culture and economic independence in a changing world. While many examples of external impacts on small-scale resource use could be drawn upon for these communities, we illustrate this situation by examining the impact of fisheries management regimes on Indigenous coastal communities in British Columbia, Canada and Aotearoa New Zealand. We characterize the problem and identify key stressors involved. Within the context of Indigenous rights and Indigenous peoples' knowledge, perspectives and experience, we highlight the need to recognize this type of constraint on Indigenous Peoples' resource use and effective participation in resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful adaptation assumes the availability of appropriate information for groups potentially impacted by climate change. This research examines information available to help farmers in the Canadian Prairies to adapt, with focus on information related to soil and water conservation practices, such as preserving wetlands and maintaining shelterbelts and groundcover, considered particularly important for this region. Results of 28 semi-structured interviews carried out with producers in two Prairie provinces, Alberta and Manitoba, revealed that information regarding soil and water conservation practices comes from a variety of sources. These included industry, government, producer and conservation organizations, social sources of information and personal experience, and media. Producers were more open to new practices when they could learn them through observation, trials, and two-way dialogue. There appears to be a general lack of producer organization involvement, and dearth of government information, direction, and coordination for climate change adaptation. Information from government and producer organizations can be important for the co-production of knowledge that can lead to successful adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystems are complex and difficult to predict and control. Western science-based societies have tended to simplify ecosystems to manage them. Some indigenous and other rural groups who interact closely with a given resource system seem to have developed practices that are adapted to live with complexity. This paper examines how indigenous Cree hunters in James Bay, subarctic Canada, understand and deal with ecological complexity and dynamics, and how their understanding of uncertainty and variability shape subsistence activities. The focus is the Canada goose ( Branta canadensis) hunt which is adaptive to shifts and changes in local and regional conditions. Ecological understandings of Cree hunters allow them to account for and deal with a very large number of variables at multiples scales. The Cree deal with these variables qualitatively, an approach consistent with some scientific ways of dealing with complexity, such as adaptive management and fuzzy logic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper reports on the outcomes of a project that engaged researchers and fishers together in adapting participatory social science approaches to the purposes and the constraints of community-based fisher organizations. The work was carried out in the Scotia-Fundy Region of Atlantic Canada (the Bay of Fundy and Scotian Shelf) between 1999 and 2003. After a period of reflection on what was collectively learned from our experiences in this project, the academics went back to the community partners in a recent workshop for further discussion and refinement of the lessons. We conclude that true participatory fishery research, utilized in support of community-based management, can be a particularly powerful tool. However, it has few effective shortcuts, it must deal early in the research process with power imbalances, and it should involve significant political engagement and empowerment through co-learning. This assessment of participatory research in coastal fisheries also has significant implications for how we think of social capital and on how we may develop community-based resource management for a sustainable future. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

There is compelling evidence that participatory governance is crucial for contending with complex problems of managing for multiple values and outcomes to achieve ecological sustainability and economic development. Canada's Oceans Act, and federal oceans policy provide a strong basis for the participatory governance and community-based management of coastal and large ocean resources. The implementation of the Oceans Act and oceans policy has resulted in some steps toward participatory governance but has not adequately provided the mechanisms for a strong role for communities in integrated coastal and ocean management (ICOM). In order to strengthen and develop community participation in ICOM, nine initiatives are recommended: (1) shifting paradigms, (2) overcoming ‘turf protection,’ (3) ensuring compatibility of goals, (4) ensuring sufficiency of information, (5) dealing with internal community stratification, (6) creating cross-scale linkages, (7) creating a participatory policy environment, (8) building community capacity, and (9) monitoring and assessment of local-level initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to take stock of integrated management in the Canadian North, assessing its contribution to the advancement of knowledge and practice regarding the role of indigenous knowledge and community-based monitoring. This is done in three steps. (1) The Beaufort Sea, designated a Large Ocean Management Area under Canada's Oceans Action Plan, is used as an example of a consultative planning process, with special attention to indigenous peoples. (2) How specifically can indigenous knowledge contribute to integrated management? The problem of Arctic marine food web contamination is used to illustrate the strengths and limitations of traditional ecological knowledge and its relationship to science. (3) The discussion of community-based monitoring relies on Voices From The Bay study involving the Inuit and Cree of Hudson and James Bay, and Inuit observations of climate change study in the Canadian western Arctic. The examples together address integrated coastal management and the health of ocean ecosystems, showing how stakeholder participation and knowledge helps widen the range of knowledge to understand and help monitor environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common property arrangements govern the subsistence harvest of berries in the Gwich'in region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Some of these arrangements, including rules for resource access, sharing information and harvest sharing, enable the Gwich'in to deal with ecological variability. The rules change in response to year-to-year variations in the abundance and distribution of the species, spatially and temporally across the region. This paper illustrates the interrelationships between ecosystem dynamics and local institutions, a neglected area of commons research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a relationship between biodiversity conservation and the cultural practices of indigenous and traditional peoples regarding land and resource use. To conserve biodiversity we need to understand how these cultures interact with landscapes and shape them in ways that contribute to the continued renewal of ecosystems. This article examines the significance of traditional knowledge and management systems and their implications for biodiversity conservation. We start by introducing one key traditional ecological practice, succession management, in particular through the use of fire. We then turn to the example of the indigenous use of boreal forest ecosystems of northern Canada, with a focus on the Anishnaabe (Ojibwa) of north-western Ontario. Their traditional practices and cultural landscapes provide temporal and spatial biodiversity, and examples of the mechanisms that conserve biodiversity. Learning from traditional systems is important for broadening conservation objectives that can accommodate the sustainable livelihoods of local people. The lens of cultural landscapes provides a mechanism to understand how multiple objectives (timber production, non-timber forest products, protected areas, tourism) are central to sustainable forest management in landscapes that conserve heritage values and support the livelihood needs of local people. The use of broader and more inclusive definitions of conservation and multiple, integrated objectives can help reconcile local livelihood needs and biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Aboriginal groups, in northern Canada and elsewhere, recognize the strong relationship between the health and well-being of people and environment. Western science, including theory and literature related to forest ecosystem management, has been .slow to recognize the complex and diverse values that Aboriginal people associate with their lands and resources. Through case study research on the berry-harvesting practices of Gwich'in women from the community of Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, Canada, we investigated the values that Teetl'it Gwich'in women associate with the land or nan kak. Nine different values, as well as a set of detailed measures, were identified during the research, including individual preference and well-being, family well-being, social connectivity, cultural continuity, land and resource use, stewardship, self-government, and spirituality. The commercial value of berries was not identified as important to women. This interdisciplinary research has the potential to contribute to several bodies of literature including that on social-ecological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can local observations and indigenous knowledge be used to provide information that complements research on climate change? Using participatory research methodology and semi-directed interviews, we explored local and traditional knowledge about changes in sea ice in the area of Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories. In this small Inuvialuit community, we interviewed all of the 16 community members and elders considered to be local experts on sea ice to ask about their observations. We organized their comments under the headings multiyear ice, first-year ice, fractures and pressure ridges, breakup and freeze-up seasons, and other climate-related variables that influence sea ice (such as changes in winter, spring and summer temperatures, wind, rain, and thunderstorms). Observations were remarkably consistent in providing evidence of local change in such variables as multiyear ice distribution, first-year ice thickness, and ice breakup dates. The changes observed in the 1990s were said to be without precedent and outside the normal range of variation. In assessing the relevance of Inuvialuit knowledge to scientific research on climate change, we note some of the areas in which sharing of information between the two systems of knowledge may be mutually beneficial. These include the analysis of options for adapting to climate change and the generation of research questions and hypotheses for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional hunting and trapping territories of the Cree in the southern reaches of the Moose River Baron were infiltrated by Euro-Canadian settlement and resource-based development early in the 20th century, with the active encouragement of the provincial government. After the Second World War, these trends were also evident in the northern part of the Basin. Many contemporaries believed that the Cree hunting and trapping economy had disintegrated in the face of Euro-Canadian competition and the lure of wage labour and village life. However, recent field studies document the continuing importance and viability of the traditional aboriginal economy of the Moose River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study of the transmission of women's indigenous knowledge and bush skills in the subarctic Omushkego Cree Indian communities of Moose Factory and Peawanuck in Ontario, Canada. Definition of transmission; Reference to literature on the transmission of culture; Information on previous studies of the area.

Presents a case study on preventive management of ecological features, human uses and cultural stresses in the ecosystem of the Long Point Bay, Lake Erie in Canada. Dynamic features of the Long Point ecosystem; Government agencies overseeing the planning and management of the ecosystem; Suggested approaches for the implementation of environmental management.

This article focuses on the effectiveness of using a combination of traditional ecological knowledge and science to monitor populations in the co-management for sustainable customary wildlife harvests by indigenous peoples. With considering findings of various case studies from Canada and New Zealand, the article analyzes the traditional monitoring techniques of catch per unit effort and body condition. It is argued that sustainability can be achieved through the complementary use by scientists of local and traditional ecological knowledge for joint management or co-management. Scientific research in support of sustainable customary use is therefore important and urgently needed.

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]

Social contracts play an important role in defining the reciprocal rights, obligations, and responsibilities between states and citizens. Climate change is creating new challenges for both states and citizens, inevitably forcing a rethinking of existing and evolving social contracts. In particular, the social arrangements that enhance the well-being and security of both present and future generations are likely to undergo dramatic transformations in response to ecosystem changes, more extreme weather events, and the consequences of social-ecological changes in distant locations. The types of social contracts that evolve in the face of a changing climate will have considerable implications for adaptation policies and processes. We consider how a resilience approach can contribute to new social contracts in the face of uncertainty and change. Examples from Norway, New Zealand, and Canada show how resilience thinking provides a new way of looking at social contracts, emphasizing the dynamics, links, and complexity of coupled social- ecological systems. Resilience thinking provides valuable insights on the characteristics of a new social contract, and social contract theory provides some insights on creating resilience and human security in a warming world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal fishery systems in the Arctic are undergoing rapid change. This paper examines the ways in which Inuit fishers experience and respond to such change, using a case study from Pangnirtung, Canada. The work is based on over two years of fieldwork, during which semi-structured interviews (n = 62), focus group discussions (n = 6, 31 participants) and key informant interviews (n = 25) were conducted. The changes that most Inuit fishers experience are: changes in sea-ice conditions, Inuit people themselves, the landscape and the seascape, fish-related changes, and changes in weather conditions, markets and fish selling prices. Inuit fishers respond to change individually as well as collectively. Fishers' responses were examined using the characteristics of a resilience-based conceptual framework focusing on place, human agency, collective action and collaboration, institutions, indigenous and local knowledge systems, and learning. Based on results, this paper identified three community-level adaptive strategies, which are diversification, technology use and fisheries governance that employs a co-management approach. Further, this work recognised four place-specific attributes that can shape community adaptations, which are Inuit worldviews, Inuit-owned institutions, a culture of sharing and collaborating, and indigenous and local knowledge systems. An examination of the ways in which Inuit fishers experience and respond to change is essential to better understand adaptations to climate change. This study delivers new insights to communities, scientists, and policymakers to work together to foster community adaptation. • Assesses adaptation to climate change in fisheries communities. • Examines how indigenous fishers experience and respond to change. • Climate change creates multiple changes in Arctic fisheries systems. • Diversification, technology, and co-management are three adaptive strategies. • Worldviews, institutions, culture, and knowledge systems can shape adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystems are complex adaptive systems that require flexible governance with the ability to respond to environmental feedback. We present, through examples from Sweden and Canada, the development of adaptive comanagement systems, showing how local groups self-organize, learn, and actively adapt to and shape change with social networks that connect institutions and organizations across levels and scales and that facilitate information flows. The development took place through a sequence of responses to environmental events that widened the scope of local management from a particular issue or resource to a broad set of issues related to ecosystem processes across scales and from individual actors, to group of actors to multiple-actor processes. The results suggest that the institutional and organizational landscapes should be approached as carefully as the ecological in order to clarify features that contribute to the resilience of social-ecological systems. These include the following: vision, leadership, and trust; enabling legislation that creates social space for ecosystem management; funds for responding to environmental change and for remedial action; capacity for monitoring and responding to environmental feedback; information flow through social networks; the combination of various sources of information and knowledge; and sense-making and arenas of collaborative learning for ecosystem management. We propose that the self-organizing process of adaptive comanagement development, facilitated by rules and incentives of higher levels, has the potential to expand desirable stability domains of a region and make social-ecological systems more robust to change.