Building an indigenous evidence-base for tribally-led habitat conservation policies

Abstract

Habitat conservation is a priority for many tribes, and indigenous local experts develop environmental policy goals based on their traditional knowledge of animal habitat use and habitat change. An indigenous evidence-base for ice seal and walrus habitat conservation in the Bering Strait region of Alaska was built by using qualitative methods to document the knowledge of 82 local expert seal and walrus hunters. Local experts produced detailed descriptions of seal and walrus habitat use and drivers of change in key habitat features, as well as policy goals based on indigenous evidence. These indigenous habitat policy goals are compared to U.S. government policies and differences are explored in terms of the indigenous evidence-base.

Evaluating the Effects of Climate Change on Indigenous Marine Mammal Hunting in Northern and Western Alaska Using Traditional Knowledge

“…Descriptions of rapid changes in the biological environment are consistent with the results of other traditional knowledge studies (e.g., Noongwook et al, 2007;Gadamus et al, 2015), including the persistence in most locations of abundant and healthy marine mammals (e.g., Huntington et al, 2013a,b;Voorhees et al, 2014), and the influence of social factors in shaping the outcomes of physical and biological changes (e.g., Fienup-Riordan et al, 2013).…”

“…In such efforts, the ways in which hunters and other holders of traditional knowledge continue to add to their understanding are often overlooked. Communitybased monitoring efforts provide one form of recognition (e.g., Gadamus et al, 2015;Alessa et al, 2016), but are often focused primarily on the observations themselves rather than analysis and interpretation within a traditional knowledge context. The ways that hunters evaluate and assimilate new observations deserve greater recognition as a means of adaptation (e.g., Huntington et al, 2017), for it is in this setting that hunters can apply their new knowledge directly to the tasks they undertake.…”

Nepenthes as Tourism Flagship Species: the Conservation Strategies in Dayak Seberuang Settlements Area

“…2). Cultures and traditional values are important factors to conserve the biodiversity [28,29]. Otherwise, cultures degradation in young generation of Dayak Seberuang People is the highest score of weakness factor with score 0.893 (Table 3).…”

A Bering Strait Indigenous Framework for Resource Management: Respectful Seal and Walrus Hunting

“…First, many tribes have expressed concern that government regulations do too little to protect marine mammals, their habitat, and their prey from increasing noise, pollution, and industrial fishing in arctic waters (Gadamus et al 2015). First, many tribes have expressed concern that government regulations do too little to protect marine mammals, their habitat, and their prey from increasing noise, pollution, and industrial fishing in arctic waters (Gadamus et al 2015).…”

“…For a description of indigenous approaches to the first concern, marine-mammal protection in the face of increasing development, see Gadamus et al (2015). One of the more common concerns is that government regulators portray indigenous hunting as a harmful influence on marine-mammal populations and stigmatize hunters.…”