Decolonial Model of Environmental Management and Conservation: Insights from Indigenous-led Grizzly Bear Stewardship in the Great Bear Rainforest

Without an over-arching biodiversity protection act, what protections exist for biodiversity in British Columbia? A case study of Oldgrowth Specklebelly Lichen (<i>Pseudocyphellaria rainierensis</i>)

“…We envisage a new approach to biodiversity protection that fully integrates both traditional Indigenous knowledge and western science and provide accountability (Gagnon and Berteaux 2009;Jones et al 2010;Artelle et al 2021). This new approach would be consistent with the views of Grand Chief Stewart Phillip (President of the Union of B.C.…”

Elegant conservation: reimagining protected area stewardship in the 21st century

“…Anti-colonial movements around the world drew increasing attention to the sophistication and validity of indigenous ideas and methods, especially as the massive environmental and social interventions that typified modern states and corporate capitalist development began to create more problems than they solved. People who had survived five centuries of efforts to destroy their cultures asserted that "supporting place-based governance systems provides an avenue to address biodiversity loss and social injustices simultaneously" (Artelle et al 2021). It is impossible to summarize Indigenous knowledge and practices in a few words.…”

Sharing the World With Bears: Conflict and Coexistence in the Siberian Taiga

“…Conservation policies and programs which derive from Indigenous sovereignty are proscribed for these peoples. This is true not only of exceptional programs, such as the tribal Grizzly Bear Treaty (Piikani Nation, 2016) or the collaborations of BC's Great Bear Rainforest (Artelle et al, 2021), but even of more common practices, such as co-management or the requirement for mandatory effective consultation.…”

“…Neil Carter and John Linnell define coexistence as "a dynamic but sustainable state in which humans and large carnivores co-adapt to living in shared landscapes where human interactions with carnivores are governed by effective institutions that ensure long-term carnivore population persistence, social legitimacy, and tolerable levels of risk " (2016: 575). When thinking of conservation in terms of co-existence or co-adaptation, the experience of Indigenous peoples has proved valuable (Clark & Slocombe, 2009;Reo & Whyte, 2012;Isabella, 2018;Artelle et al, 2021). For more than a decade, we have been working to understand the place of bears and bear ceremonialism among the Indigenous Khanty and Mansi peoples of western Siberia.…”