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Undermining subsistence: Barren-ground caribou in a 'tragedy of open access'
- Source :
- Science Advances
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2018.
-
Abstract
- Mineral resource development in the Canadian north has tragic consequences for both caribou and Indigenous people.<br />Sustaining arctic/subarctic ecosystems and the livelihoods of northern Indigenous peoples is an immense challenge amid increasing resource development. The paper describes a “tragedy of open access” occurring in Canada’s north as governments open up new areas of sensitive barren-ground caribou habitat to mineral resource development. Once numbering in the millions, barren-ground caribou populations (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus/Rangifer tarandus granti) have declined over 70% in northern Canada over the last two decades in a cycle well understood by northern Indigenous peoples and scientists. However, as some herds reach critically low population levels, the impacts of human disturbance have become a major focus of debate in the north and elsewhere. A growing body of science and traditional knowledge research points to the adverse impacts of resource development; however, management efforts have been almost exclusively focused on controlling the subsistence harvest of northern Indigenous peoples. These efforts to control Indigenous harvesting parallel management practices during previous periods of caribou population decline (for example, 1950s) during which time governments also lacked evidence and appeared motivated by other values and interests in northern lands and resources. As mineral resource development advances in northern Canada and elsewhere, addressing this “science-policy gap” problem is critical to the sustainability of both caribou and people.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Canada
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Population Dynamics
Population
Social Sciences
01 natural sciences
Mining
Indigenous
Rangifer tarandus granti
Population Groups
Animals
Humans
Traditional knowledge
education
Applied Ecology
Ecosystem
Research Articles
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Minerals
education.field_of_study
Multidisciplinary
Geography
biology
Agroforestry
SciAdv r-articles
Subsistence agriculture
Porcupines
15. Life on land
biology.organism_classification
Livelihood
Adaptation, Physiological
humanities
010601 ecology
Population decline
13. Climate action
Sustainability
Reindeer
Research Article
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 23752548
- Volume :
- 4
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Science Advances
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....257ea345005093bad5f2e874a7ed112b