Conceptualizing indicators as boundary objects in integrating Inuit knowledge and western science for marine resource management

Abstract

A complex co-management system exists across Inuit Nunangat, whereby federal, provincial, territorial governments and Inuit organizations manage natural resources cooperatively. Under Inuit land claim agreements, Inuit Knowledge, western science, and co-produced knowledge are to be used side by side to support decision-making. However, the mechanisms of effectively integrating these knowledge systems to inform decision makers remain poorly understood. This limits Inuit self-determination, hinders knowledge production, impedes resource governance improvements, and exacerbates communication barriers leading to tensions in marine resource management. It is also a barrier for scientists to utilize Inuit Knowledge that exists in a different capacity, and vice-a-versa. We discuss marine resource management indicators, positioning them as potential ‘boundary objects’ around which different knowledge systems converge. We explore their role for not only monitoring ecosystems but also for integrating knowledge in co-management. We summarize efforts at developing indicators and explore the extent to which they can take on information from different knowledge systems in support of improved co-management decision-making. Finally, we identify how indicators can be used as a facilitation tool for integrating knowledge systems while also generating new research questions and bringing forward management challenges that would otherwise remain out of the scope of researchers and resource managers.

Learning from knowledge co-production research and practice in the twenty-first century: global lessons and what they mean for collaborative research in Nunatsiavut

“…For example, Schuttenberg and Guth (2015) found that social-ecological context represented a component of co-productive capacities that increased the salience of knowledge for a climate change action plan in Hawaii. Knowledge co-production in northern Canada often centered on fostering contextual benefits for Indigenous communities and ILK, such as reversing colonial research legacies and lack of agency in Arctic communities, promoting ecosystem health, and institutional adaptations to climate change (Carter et al 2019;Falardeau et al 2019;Kourantidou et al 2020;Mantyka-Pringle et al 2017; Schott et al 2020; Vogel and Bullock 2020). Indeed, equitable recognition and interactions with contextual ILK emerged as a common theme in this review, contrasting with findings that climate adaptation scholars tended to study ILK in co-production as fixed data rather than contextual relationships (Klenk et al 2017).…”

Equitable Allocations in Northern Fisheries: Bridging the Divide for Labrador Inuit

“…In addition to the Fisheries Act, several other federal government mandates put emphasis on inclusion of IK for guiding and informing science and management. These mandates cover both commercial and subsistence harvesting of marine resources, and, while there are stronger voices and literature that support the need to include and prioritize IK for subsistence harvest (Kourantidou et al, 2020), such is not the case for commercial fisheries. This is true despite strong evidence that ignoring IK can be detrimental for the conservation of stocks [e.g., see Milich (1999) for an example of undervaluation of IK in the Newfoundland (François) cod fishery].…”

“…The cod fishery collapse in Newfoundland and Labrador has also undermined trust on behalf of fishers in top-down management approaches given past failures to predict stocks (Schott, 2004). Past colonial practices in resource governance in Nunatsiavut and all across Inuit Nunangat (Felt et al, 2012;Keenan et al, 2018;Kourantidou et al, 2020) perpetuate mistrust and create barriers to fruitful partnerships between local users and resource managers which may come at the cost of mismanaging the fishery.…”

“…For a full picture of their economic value one would need to estimate their net present value(Hoagland et al, 2005). This becomes particularly relevant in Nunatsiavut where the value of fisheries encompass food security and sovereignty, cultural connections, social conditions attached to employment and many other, not easy to capture intangible values(Bennett et al, 2018;Kourantidou et al, 2020).Frontiers in Marine Science | www.frontiersin.org…”

Isumaqatigingniq: Building a Transformational Science Education Model to Engage the Next Generation of Inuit and Western Scientific Investigators

“…Previous efforts to combine the scientific and educational values of IQ and Western science have been initiated and implemented in the eastern Canadian Arctic and their value demonstrated. These include marine resource management programs (Alexander et al, 2019;Kourantidou et al, 2020), cooperative projects of the Canadian High Arctic Research Station in Cambridge Bay (Burke, 2019), inclusion of IQ knowledge about Arctic climate change at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (Weatherhead et al, 2010), and SmartICE, which, in collaboration with the Nunatsiavut government, integrates traditional knowledge about the ice with real-time data gathered from sensors embedded in sea ice (Halliday, 2020).…”