NEWS / Events

Polar Bear Conservation-Hunting Workshop, Pigeon Lake AB October 2007

Project researchers and northern partners met in Pigeon Lake , Alberta , from October 28 – 30, 2007, to review past and current research and discuss future project activities. Researchers reported on a variety of topics being studied, including the relationship between subsistence and sport hunting of polar bears and between sport[conservation] hunting and conservation. Other research involves study of the economic, cultural and symbolic importance of polar bears in Inuit communities, and the moral/ethical dimensions of polar bear conservation hunting. Current research is also directed to the effects of international and domestic laws on conservation hunting, the effects of these legal frameworks for helping or hindering mitigation and adaptation to current environmental changes, and possible changes to these frameworks required to reduce conflicts occurring in polar bear management and conservation.

Project-related concerns discussed at the meeting included the importance sustaining North – South research partnerships and mutual capacity-building, improving the use of local knowledge in research and decision-making, and the negative impacts of invasive wildlife research. The meeting confirmed that this project is directed to broader issues than the study of polar bear hunting and management, and includes addressing fundamental issues of human dignity and seeking common ground upon which to build more inclusive approaches to policy and program development and implementation. Research includes such issues of the politicization of science and cultural politics, in particular where charismatic wildlife species are appropriated by various special interest groups for their own ideological, economic and political purposes.

Other specific issues discussed included the U.S. Endangered Species Act polar bear listing decision (due in early January 2008) and national and international legal decisions being taken or under consideration that impact polar bear conservation and Inuit community wellbeing, arctic sovereignty, climate warming, and a proposed project conference and final report (likely in 2008). Research continues, and a small ad hoc group was established to plan future project meetings and reports. 

We wish to acknowledge assistance received from ArcticNet, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada ( Yellowknife ), and the TD-Friends of the Environment Foundation (Alberta Chapter) that covered meeting costs.

Standing (left to right): Bert Dean (Rankin Inlet NU), Nigel Bankes (Calgary AB), Susan Clark (New Haven CT), Brenda Parlee (Edmonton AB), Dan Slavik (Edmonton AB) Mike Evans (Kelowna BC), Kerrie Ann Shannon (Fairbanks AK), Gabriel Nirlungayuk (Cambridge Bay NU), Martha Dowsley (Montreal QC), Marc Stevenson (Edmonton AB), Moshi Kotierk (Igloolik NU), Doug Clark (Whitehorse YT), Ryan Danby (Edmonton AB).

Seated (left to right): Lee Foote (Edmonton AB), David Lee (Rankin Inlet NU), Milton Freeman (Edmonton AB), Chucky Gruben (Tuktoyaktuk NT), Angela Nuliayok (Grande Prairie AB/Gjoa Haven NU), Frank Pokiak (Tuktoyaktuk NT).

 

Inuit Knowledge and Western Science Roundtable, Edmonton October 2006

During the March 2006 meeting in Yellowknife (see below) to launch the Canadian Circumpolar Institute-based polar bear conservation-hunting project, the relationship between Inuit knowledge and western scientific knowledge was discussed. Three northern partner organizations participating in the Yellowknife meeting encouraged further exploration of ways in which Inuit knowledge could be more effectively used in wildlife management decision making.

In response, a roundtable to discuss this issue was held in Edmonton on October 18 2006 at the International Institute for Qualitative Research on the campus of the University of Alberta. Participants included biologists and social scientists who were either involved in research on polar bears, community-based conservation, indigenous/community-based ecological knowledge, and/or resource stewardship practices. Representatives of three Inuit partner organizations participated in the meeting.

This roundtable was seen as a preparatory meeting to identify a number of issues that would be further discussed at an international symposium to be convened early in 2007. Recognizing the need for wider information-sharing between Inuit knowledge holders and wildlife scientists and managers, three important subsets of Inuit knowledge were identified for further discussion: (1) local-scale detailed indigenous knowledge useful to environmental and wildlife/fishery scientists, (2) similar knowledge that can be combined with science to legitimate more culturally-appropriate resource-stewardship arrangement in the North, and (3) indigenous knowledge that satisfies scientific requirements for addressing other research questions.

In relation to gaining wider acceptance of indigenous ecological knowledge, another important area of enquiry relates to developing procedures and protocols that ensure Inuit environmental knowledge is widely recognized to be accurate, credible, and legitimate by scientists and managers, in other words, to developing authoritative guidelines that allow government and other regionally-based agencies and organizations to evaluate whether any particular local/indigenous knowledge report meets acceptable credibility and legitimacy criteria.

Although it is widely recognized that polar bears and many other species will be impacted by climate change, nevertheless scientific uncertainty associated with models used to predict the impacts of these changes suggests the importance of developing a more creative and adaptive approach to the question of managing for uncertainty. Such an approach should fully incorporate local knowledge of environmental responses to past episodes of climate warning and cooling, and requires identifying an appropriate means of securing this expert knowledge.

Participating in the roundtable were Fikret Berkes (U of Manitoba), Ryan Danby (U of Alberta), Andrew Derocher (U of Alberta/Chair, IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group), Lee Foote (U of Alberta/Chair, IUCN-North America Sustainable Use Specialist Group), Milton Freeman (Canadian Circumpolar Institute), Nancy Gibson (U of Alberta), Naomi Krogman (U of Alberta), Darren Keith (Kitikmeot Heritage Society), David Lee (Nunavut Tunngavik Inc), Sammy Lennie (Inuvialuit Game Council), Brenda Parlee (U of Alberta), Caroline Porr (International Institute for Qualitative Methodology), Vicki Sahanatien (U of Alberta), Kashif Sheikh (Canadian Circumpolar Institute), Ian Stirling (Canadian Wildlife Service).

Inuit Knowledge and Western Science Roundtable Report

 

Conservation Hunting Workshop Yellowknife, NWT
 March 2006

The purpose of the Yellowknife workshop, held 23-25 March 2006, was to bring researchers, partners, and collaborators together to discuss the content, priorities and cooperative arrangements needed to effectively examine research questions related to conservation hunting (c-h). These questions included examining the impacts of climate change (and other environmental changes) on wildlife species having significant economic, dietary, social and cultural value for northern indigenous communities. The research will primarily focus on polar bear conservation hunting. The workshop also considered ways in which the project can contribute to capacity building in northern communities and organizations, sustainable research partnerships and northern educational programs. It recognized that the basis of all such cooperative activities – including wildlife co-management institutions – depend on respectful appreciation and application of local knowledge, understandings and values (Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, or IQ), consequently the project aims to contribute to an improved appreciation and application of IQ in northern policy development and programs.

Topics discussed during the workshop included issues surrounding wildlife research in the Arctic, what is meant by ‘conservation hunting’ [c-h], current challenges facing c-h, social changes associated with conservation hunting, wildlife management in the Arctic, polar bear quotas, research partnerships and traditional ecological knowledge, concerns about transmission of traditional and cultural knowledge to youth, challenges associated with technical translation, research methods, and how best to contribute to effective capacity building of the Northern Communities.

Workshop participants included (left to right): Phillip Kadlun (Kugluktuk NU), Milton Freeman (Edmonton, AB), Drikus Gissing (Pond Inlet, NU), Douglas Clark (Waterloo, ON), Raymond Ningeocheak (Rankin Inlet, NU), Grete Hovelsrud (Oslo, Norway), Tuppittia Qitsualik interpreter (Yellowknife NT), George Wenzel (Montreal,QC), Martina Tyrrell (Aberdeen, Scotland), David Lee (Rankin Inlet, NU), Lee Foote (Edmonton, AB), Darren Keith (Yellowknife, NT), Bert Dean (Rankin Inlet, NU), and Marc Stevenson (Edmonton, AB) who is not in the picture.

Workshop participants included project researchers, northern partners, and collaborators representing co-operating governments and other invited stakeholders.

We acknowledge funds received from ArcticNet, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) that made the workshop possible.

IUCN-Zoological Society of London Symposium on Recreational Hunting, Conservation and Rural Livelihoods
 October 2006

Organized by the IUCN Species Survival Commission Sustainable Use Specialist Group (SUSG) and attended by over 200 people, the Symposium titled Recreational Hunting, Conservation and Rural Livelihoods: Science and Practice was held in London (U.K) on October 12 – 13 2006. Opening the meeting, SUSG Chair Jon Hutton said “This meeting breaks new scientific ground because for the first time we have brought together leading experts and practitioners from around the world to examine in depth the claims that recreational hunting makes a significant contribution to conservation and rural livelihoods.”

For the purposes of the Symposium, recreational hunting was given a working definition: “hunting where the hunter or hunters pursue their quarry primarily for recreation or pleasure”. From an economic perspective it was recognized that there are two broad but not exclusive types: local hunting, where the hunter originates locally to the hunting area, and hunting tourism, where the hunter travels a considerable distance, often abroad, and pays a substantial amount of money for the hunting experience.

Presentations ranged from the origins of modern conservation, through global overviews of recreational hunting, angling and falconry, to regional models from North America and Southern Africa and scientific studies of the effect of trophy hunting on population dynamics of several species. Case studies demonstrated how controlled hunting involving decision-making by local people have assisted the acceptance of restored populations of wood bison in the Yukon or had played a critical role in the recovery of markhor goat and urial sheep in Pakistan and provided vital incentives for the revival of an important National Park in Uganda.

Other presentations identified the circumstances allowing or inhibiting photographic and hunting tourism to be combined in protected areas in South Africa, examined what rights and benefits villagers in Zambia and Namibia see as important to their own well-being in relation to hunting tourism by foreigners, and the application in Nunavut (Canada) of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (all inherited, present and future knowledge of the community) to wildlife management and hunting by Inuit and visiting tourists. Cases were presented of over-exploitation by hunting of antelopes in Africa and of corruption by a few key individuals preventing revenues from tourist hunting being maximized for conservation and community benefit. The need for good governance at all levels was a theme echoed by many speakers.

The application of the CITES regime to import and export of hunting trophies and various principles, guidelines, criteria and indicators for sustainable hunting in Europe together with an outline code of conduct derived from an analysis of sport hunting in Southern Africa, were among other topics discussed. Possibilities for certifying hunting at a local level were considered, but something much simpler was advocated.

Following the Symposium, the IUCN-SUSG held a workshop attended by about 70 people to examine a range of possible tools for enhancing the sustainability of recreational hunting, including standards, certification, principles, codes and charters, to consider their appropriateness to the work of IUCN, as well as among those managing and participating in recreational hunting. Among the outcomes to be further considered by the SUSG are work on certain hunting-related broad principles of global relevance and examples of best practice relating to them, as well as the need for wider understanding of the contribution which hunting makes to pro-biodiversity land management and livelihoods.

Inuit Oppose and Seek Clarification of IUCN Decision to Change Polar Bear Status to "Vulnerable"

Ottawa, Thursday May 11, 2006 - Inuit oppose and seek clarification of the decision announced on May 2, 2006 by The World Conservation Union (IUCN) to upgrade the status of the polar bear to "vulnerable" on the Red List. While we accept the climate change science that projects a reduction in habitat over the next 50 years, changing "Red List" methodology to upgrade the polar bear's status to "vulnerable" at this time while populations remain robust, unacceptably exaggerates the situation.

"We were blindsided by the announcement," say Inuit leaders Jose Kusugak President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and Duane Smith President of Inuit Circumpolar Conference (Canada). "We are members of the IUCN and we were not consulted, or warned ahead of time of this change of status. So, you can imagine our feelings when a decision that affects us directly was made without our involvement."

Speaking at the Canada-Norway Bilateral Northern Dialogue today in Ottawa, Mr. Smith outlined Inuit concerns over the change of status of the polar bear.

"The polar bear is central to the image of the Arctic. It's a legendary animal in our lives. It's spoken of with reverence. It's integral to our culture. To contemplate life without it is unfathomable."

Mr. Kusugak said, "The comprehensive Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) report released in 2004 probably made last week's announcement on the vulnerable status of the Polar Bear inevitable. The ACIA concluded that:

Marine species dependent on sea ice, including polar bears, ice-living seals, walrus, and some marine birds, are very likely to decline, with some species facing extinction.

And

For Inuit, warming is likely to disrupt or even destroy their hunting and food sharing culture as reduced sea ice causes the animals on which they depend to decline, become less accessible, and possibly become extinct.

More than 70% of the world's 20,000 - 25,000 polar bears are found in Canada and they constitute an important economic resource to Inuit. Polar bears are hunted according to a well-managed, sustainable quota system through cooperative management bodies established under comprehensive land claim agreements.

Inuit leaders have written to federal environment minister Rona Ambrose this week, seeking a meeting to discuss the Government of Canada's approach to climate change in light of this development with the polar bear.

The leaders also stated that Inuit hunters need reassurance as to the continuation of their harvesting rights and activities as a result of this announcement. In addition, the longer term status of polar bears should be addressed in the "Made in Canada" climate change plan soon to be considered by the federal cabinet.

Contact:

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Stephen Hendrie, Director of Communications, Tel: 613.277.3178

Inuit Circumpolar Conference, Corrine Gray, Executive Director, Tel: 613.563.2642