Introduction
The general objective of this essay is to agree with the perspective of the lead editorial by Gladu and Coates (2022) “Indigenous resource management guarantees cultural survival, with the benefits passed on to everyone.” On page 3 of the editorial, the authors explain that mining and oil and gas companies active in Canada have embraced their obligations to involve Indigenous peoples in environmental management. With this notion in mind, this report will agree with the general concept of the editorial that the Canadian government should incorporate indigenous resource management to help manage Canadian natural resources, wildlife preservation, etc. However, the report will take it further with the concept that Canadian mining companies should incorporate indigenous resource management, including indigenous communities, for the environmental assessments and fully engage the Indigenous knowledge passed down for thousands of years.
Elements of an Ecologically Sustainable System
The politics of climate change are embedded in aboriginal indigenous people’s rights and politics of energy. In Northern Alaska, the politics of climate change are more vivid than in other areas of the country. In the region, acute impacts of climate change that affect the aboriginals’ livelihoods determine the decision-making regarding energy development (Global Affairs Canada, 2018). Considering the elevated exposure and sensitivity to climate change effects, the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) involvement in developing gas and oil exacerbates the acute livelihood challenges that the aboriginals in the region face.
In the U.S., there is a tendency to marginalize the rights of the native people when the country is planning the development of natural resources (HR 1146 Statement, 2019). Furthermore, there is a missed opportunity for the country to advance development decision-making to be geared towards efficient planning of the socio-ecological context of climate change. In the North, indigenous communities are uniquely qualified to enrich decision-making and government policy changes concerning climate change development (Nursey-Bray and Palmer, 2018). The natives are knowledge holders, and sovereign people qualified and justified to be involved in the planning process. Conclusively, handling the cumulative threats caused by climate change and development that infringe on the rights of the indigenous communities during the planning and development of oil and gas in the coastal plain area is necessary to protect the livelihoods of the indigenous communities and their surrounding ecosystems.
Climate change has significantly impacted the well-being and health of the arctic residents, and the effects are projected to rise continually, particularly for most indigenous people. These impacts are especially acute due to the rising risks associated with the region’s industrial development, particularly oil and gas (McGregor, 2018). Considering the challenges of managing the effects of growth in a remote area and the sensitivity of the ecological system, the impact of climate change is bound to increase. Furthermore, northern residents significantly face environmental legacies of historic extractive development such as mining, which has left a notable toxic footprint across the North.
Increased Northern Development
According to Jeffery, Fiser, Brender, and Dowdall (2015), there is tension between community benefits and resource development in the North at personal, community, and local levels. Therefore, effective Northern development and policy-making should incorporate Northern complexity, Northern community resilience, and dimensions of Northern security. Northern complexity refers to the wide variations in realities across the North regarding demographics and governance structures. Additionally, the North is complex in its population distribution in the urban, rural, and remote areas (Reid et al., 2021). Secondly, it is vital to consider the dimensions of Northern security when discussing Northern development. Arctic sovereignty is an essential aspect of Canadian environmental and economic well-being. Therefore, the security dimensions important to Northerners include the communities’ capacity to meet the residents’ basic needs and their ability to cope with day-to-day challenges.
Finally, the third aspect to be incorporated include Northern community resilience. As the world faces environmental and socio-economic change, the Northern communities need to be capable of anticipating and adapting to adversity (Nursey-Bray and Palmer, 2018). Consequently, the high-priority areas when developing the North include the involvement of the aboriginal youth, decent governance to push growth, and advancing the Northern infrastructure. Any development programs in the country need to consider the child, especially in the aboriginal populations. The North is bound to face acute workforce pressures as the region progresses and develops. At the same time, most Northern aboriginals lack the basic training and education to meet the skills and knowledge required in industrial positions. Therefore, investing in the youth is investing in the future.
The second priority, advancing Northern infrastructure, is imperative for human and economic development in the North (Parlee and Caine, 2018). The infrastructure includes electrical grids, telecommunications, housing, ports, and roads. In this aspect, the priority must be identifying and financing infrastructure projects that deliver environmental, social, and economic returns on investment. The third priority, decent governance to push growth, involves adapting unique, inclusive, adaptive, and flexible dimensions (Parlee and Caine, 2018). There is relatively more minor Northern public service in the North than in other parts of the country, which can be challenging for the region. Therefore, Northern development must address significant regional human resources challenges and sufficiently draw research and data volumes that support evidence-based policy-making.
Advantages of Relying on Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Indigenous communities are greatly affected by the negative implications of climate change brought about by human activities such as energy development. According to Gladu and Coates (2022), indigenous communities bear most of the burden of ecological degradation and environmental restrictions, which directly or indirectly lead to cultural decline. Climate change and environmental degradation have led to numerous policy changes and sanctions imposed on the local communities. As a result, they are losing access to their land and getting fishing and hunting restrictions, denying their young population the to participate in crucial traditions. For example, limitations to hunting have prevented indigenous youth from experiencing harvesting practices that have been sustenance for the communities for millennia. Indigenous people are progressively losing opportunities to learn crucial traditions and access their land. Therefore, knowledge systems and policy changes that will allow indigenous communities to keep protecting and using their lands and all their natural resources must be implemented.
A fundamental way of providing sound policy changes and decision-making is understanding and addressing biodiversity loss through enlisting diverse knowledge systems. According to Henri et al. (2021), environmental research has increased the call for interdisciplinary practices in the past decades. In recent years, the need for multiple knowledge systems, particularly western sciences and indigenous knowledge systems (IKS), has been heralded in environmental research and management. For example, the International Platform on Biodiversity Services (IPBS) and International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have advocated for the inclusion of IKS (IPCC, 2018). Multiple knowledge systems have been shown to help implement evidence-based actions towards biodiversity conservation, create trust in research results, and progress in understanding socio-ecological connections.
According to Alexander et al. (2019), weaving a knowledge system is the process by which multiple types of knowledge are equitably combined to activate the reciprocal exchange of comprehension for mutual application and learning. The weaving of knowledge systems is beneficial in determining the dynamics and co-evolution process of the coproduction of knowledge by which the integrity of each knowledge system is appreciated and maintained. Weaving knowledge systems is more than incorporating, combining, and integrating knowledge systems criticized for suggesting or connoting the assimilation of IKS into an overarching and dominant western scientific paradigm.
According to Reid et al. (2021), weaving knowledge systems places IKS and western sciences equally. The process distinguishes the inherent value of IKS, which may be analyzed as appreciating and respecting the indigenous people and their intellectual traditions. IKS is an accumulation of body knowledge, belief, and practice growing by adaptive processes passed down from generation to generation through cultural transmission regarding the relationship between living things and their surroundings (McGregor, 2018). McGregor (2018) explains that IKS is a way of life and not just information on how to live; it is the way to live that life.
On the other hand, western sciences are sciences from the academy that have been improved by western belief systems and ideologies (Alexander et al., 2019). Western sciences, like other Eurocentric sciences, have a powerful array of knowledge about nature, some of which have been appropriated from many different cultures, such as China, India, and Islam, over time. The appropriated knowledge was modified over time to sufficiently fit into the westerners’ metaphysics, worldviews, value systems, and epistemologies. Eurocentric science and western sciences have similar beliefs, conventional actions, expectations, values, norms, and technologies.
Therefore, indigenous knowledge systems and western sciences have advantages and drawbacks. For example, IKS is better than western sciences because it has authentic knowledge passed down in generations about conserving their land. However, since the command is concentrated on a specific region, it may be limited in scope and advantages. On the other hand, the western sciences’ drawback is that it’s appropriate for knowledge from other cultures across the globe. However, its appropriation can be advantageous because it is inclusive, comprehensive, detailed, and incorporated from different perspectives. Western sciences may have more extensive and comparable knowledge compared to IKS. It is important to note that the command may be more comprehensive and similar, but it has been significantly modified to fit the western narrative. Therefore, it may not always be the most beneficial.
Conclusion
Human activities, such as urbanization and development, have directly contributed to the depletion of natural resources and biodiversity worldwide. This depletion has led to the enforcement of various sanctions, such as hunting and fishing restrictions. The policy changes have led to a cultural decline and a reduction in some food products, such as food from caribou. The decline in culture calls for implementing knowledge systems that will remind the current and future generations of the importance of land to the indigenous communities and encourage them to work towards its protection. One of the systems to be used is the indigenous knowledge system. IKS is a vital aspect of every indigenous person to help them understand and appreciate their traditions and surrounding ecosystems. Western sciences can also be useful to the youth when learning about culture and environment. However, western sciences have been modified and eroded from appropriated information from various cultures and hence, may not be as effective in maintaining the crucial traditional learning needed as IKS.
References
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