Co-management of Traditional Foods: Opportunities and Limitations for Food Security in Northern First Nation Communities

Abstract

Traditional foods that First Nations peoples harvest or gather from the land remain critically important for achieving and sustaining food security for many communities. In Canada’s North, land claim agreements include provisions for First Nations to participate in the governance of their traditional territories, including the co-management of important traditional (wild-harvested) food species. Because such agreements only specify the broad contours of co-management governance, their actual functioning evolves out of a complex interplay among the co-managing organizations over the course of time. This paper aims to deepen our understanding of how First Nations communities can enhance food security as participants in co-management. Our study connects research on food security with research on co-management and is the first to analyze how First Nations can improve their food security by influencing decision-making that affects traditional foods through co-management arrangements. Following a succinct review of the Indigenous food security and co-management literatures, we analyze the experiences of Kluane First Nation in enhancing community food security through the co-management of its traditional territory with Yukon Government and Parks Canada, interpreting the data in light of the theories and evidences offered by research on co-management. The analysis of data collected from semi-structured interviews and from First Nations and government resources shows that, while the co-management system is imperfect, it does offer a mechanism through which First Nations can exert influence on decisions that affect their food security. The three key themes emerging from the excerpts confirm the importance of co-management as an evolutionary and long-term process, in which trust- and relationship-building are ongoing activities that are fundamental to beneficial collaboration involving the sharing of information and power. The analysis also highlights the role of context, or situational factors, in facilitating or hindering collaboration.

Food security management in developing countries: Influence of economic factors on their food availability and access

“…The Existing food security literature includes only few publications that specifically mention co-management as a mechanism through which food security can be enhanced [ 48 ]. Food and nutritional security should be operated from intersectoral and interdisciplinary perspectives considering areas as family, local, national and international [ 33 ].…”

Recent protected area–Indigenous Peoples research articles in Canada and the USA: A meta-review

“…If considering articles rather than unique authors, there are five papers with Indigenous lead authors Anderson 2019;) and three with Indigenous second authors . Of the 66 articles, five had an Indigenous community member or representative as a co-author (Ban et al 2008;Cruickshank et al 2019). These five include people who may not be Indigenous but are employed by an Indigenous community.…”

Impacts of harvested species declines on Indigenous Peoples’ food sovereignty, well-being and ways of life: a case study of Anishinaabe perspectives and moose

“…The food sovereignty concept recognizes people's rights to access and hold decision-making power over healthy foods that promote individual and community-level wellbeing while supporting social-ecological capacity to adapt to environmental changes (Grey and Patel 2015, Lam et al 2019, Salomon et al 2019. Although examples are still emerging, moves toward food sovereignty can be supported by co-management of the environment at local community scales (Cruickshank et al 2019, Popp et al 2019. Environmental co-management includes knowledge co-production and multiple ways of knowing, as well as sharing of power and responsibility (Berkes 2009a), and has been documented to provide holistic approaches that strengthen environmental policy while reinstating Indigenous Peoples' relationships with the land (Spak 2005, Armitage et al 2011, Popp et al 2019.…”

“…Environmental co-management includes knowledge co-production and multiple ways of knowing, as well as sharing of power and responsibility (Berkes 2009a), and has been documented to provide holistic approaches that strengthen environmental policy while reinstating Indigenous Peoples' relationships with the land (Spak 2005, Armitage et al 2011, Popp et al 2019. Co-management has also helped to address food security by bridging gaps between Indigenous well-being and access to traditional foods while providing capacity for socialecological resilience (McConney et al 2015, Cruickshank et al 2019, Popp et al 2019. As part of a larger discussion surrounding reconciliation, the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge systems, values, and ways of life in environmental and wildlife policy remains an ongoing dialogue between nation-state governments and Indigenous Nations globally, particularly as environmental change continues to contribute to wildlife declines and exacerbate food insecurity (Elliott et al 2012, Huntington et al 2019, Salomon et al 2019.…”