Linking co-monitoring to co-management: bringing together local, traditional, and scientific knowledge in a wildlife status assessment framework

Abstract

Effective wildlife management requires accurate and timely information on conservation status and trends, and knowledge of the factors driving population change. Reliable monitoring of wildlife population health, including disease, body condition, and population trends and demographics, is central to achieving this, but conventional scientific monitoring alone is often not sufficient. Combining different approaches and knowledge types can provide a more holistic understanding than conventional science alone and can bridge gaps in scientific monitoring in remote and sparsely populated areas. Inclusion of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is core to the wildlife co-management mandate of the Canadian territories and is usually included through consultation and engagement processes. We propose a status assessment framework that provides a systematic and transparent approach to including TEK, as well as local ecological knowledge (LEK), in the design, implementation, and interpretation of wildlife conservation status assessments. Drawing on a community-based monitoring program for muskoxen and caribou in northern Canada, we describe how scientific knowledge and TEK/LEK, documented through conventional monitoring, hunter-based sampling, or qualitative methods, can be brought together to inform indicators of wildlife health within our proposed assessment framework.

Implications of Zoonoses From Hunting and Use of Wildlife in North American Arctic and Boreal Biomes: Pandemic Potential, Monitoring, and Mitigation

“…Combining diverse approaches and ways of knowing, including Indigenous Knowledge, provides a more complete understanding of the socio-ecological system than applying Western science alone. Working together can help bridge gaps in scientific monitoring, and bring the best available knowledge to more effectively monitor, and respond to, the impacts of disease and climate change on the health of Arctic and boreal inhabitants ( 338 ).…”

“…Community-based monitoring, Indigenous Knowledge, participatory epidemiology, and citizen science have become increasingly relevant as ways of centering research on community needs and priorities, and obtaining invaluable information on health and the environment (190,193,197,201,331,(335)(336)(337)(338). Rich knowledge, including on preventing certain food-borne illness, results from the long-standing relationships of Indigenous Peoples and local communities with their environment, including their harvesting of nutritionally and spiritually important native plants, fish, and wildlife (56,57,118,339,340).…”

“…Table 3 lists some examples of the existing monitoring efforts for wildlife health, and country and traditional foods. Ongoing academic-government-community collaborative partnerships have resulted in several successful community-based wildlife health surveillance programs that aim to address community concerns about wildlife health and food safety while simultaneously addressing key research questions about wildlife ecology and dynamics (193,197,338). Inuit, Métis, First Nations, and Alaskan Native societies across the Arctic and boreal biomes (and globally) maintain vast and holistic Indigenous Knowledge Systems, across generations, about the natural environment and how it is changing.…”

Promoting Cooperation of Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance of IUU Fishing in the Asia-Pacific

“…At the national level, collaboration among different stakeholders is key. For example, working with fishers for co-monitoring and with private sectors for the utilization of novel technologies are potential approaches to strengthen MCS in coastal areas [8,143]. The improvements in awareness of MCS and frequent communication among stakeholders should also be accompanied to promote such collaboration [144].…”

Potential impacts of sea ice and ship traffic change to caribou sea ice crossing areas surrounding King William Island, Nunavut, Canada

“…We are also aware of ongoing wildlife, fish, and harvest monitoring in Uqsuqtuuq (Schott et al 2020), and evolving approaches to wildlife co-monitoring in other Kitikmeot communities (Peacock et al 2020). To really understand the impacts of changing (or variable) sea ice and ship traffic on caribou crossings around KWI more focused partnerships in community, research, and government monitoring would be needed.…”