Transcript Document

Knowledge Sharing About
Climate Change Related Food
Insecurity in the Arctic
Objectives:
1. ways of knowing about
Arctic climate change
2. tools for assessing the use
of Inuit knowledge
Project Partners:
Rachel Hirsch, York University, Toronto
Gwen Healey, Qaujigiartiit Health
Research Centre, Iqaluit
Northwest Passage, September 2007 (Source: NASA Images)
Photographer: Rahabi Kamookak (Gjoa Haven)
Key Impacts on
Northern Communities
(Government of Canada Report: From Impacts to
Adaptation, Furgal & Prowse, 2008)
• changes in the cryosphere
– e.g., ice roads, containment ponds
• biodiversity shifts
– e.g., migration patterns, invasion
• maintenance of traditional ways of life
– e.g., subsistence, movement on land/ice
Canada’s Domestic Action:
Northern Climate
Change Adaptation
Government of Canada
• “assessing key vulnerabilities and health impacts
related to climate change in Northern / Inuit
populations”
• “disseminating management tools for adaptation”
www.climatechange.gc.ca
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
• subsidized food mail program (since 1960s);
evaluative surveys (2001-2003)
Research Agenda: Climate Change
Policy Imperatives for the
Canadian Arctic
State of the
Arctic
Policy Actions
Community
Health
and Well-being
Case Example:
Climate Change Related Food
Security in Nunavut
“I will say as an example that traditional food is, of
course, the best in terms of consumption of food in the north,
because [we’re] used to it. And traditional food, there’s no bad
food in that sense. But since the introduction of southern foods,
there’s all kinds of choices now … just look at the stores, I can
give you an example of one store, a little store that has aisles
and aisles of stuff. I can’t even say that they’re food. They’re
stuff. But you consume through your mouth, but they’re not
really healthy at all. They’re just all junk food.”
-- Participant #6 (Healey, 2006)
Canada’s Domestic Action:
Northern Climate Change
Adaptation and Health
2008-2009 Projects
2009-2010 Projects
2010-2011 Projects
Health Canada
Climate Change and Health
Adaptation in Northern First
Nations and Inuit Communities Program
(Total Funded Communities 2008-2011 = 37)
Case Example:
Climate Change Related Food
Security in Nunavut
"We’ll be seeing more of this... more machines for sale. We
won’t be able to use them any more when it warms up”.
Concerns:
- changed ways of hunting
- inability to hunt at all
Source: Healey, Magner, Ritter,
Kamookak, Aningmiuq, Issaluk,
Mackenzie, Allardyce, Stockdale, &
Moffit, 2010 (Accepted to Arctic).
Photographer: Rahabi Kamookak (Gjoa Haven)
Research Agenda:
How to know about the state of
the Canadian Arctic?
State of the
Arctic
Knowledge
Policy Actions
Community
Health
and Well-being
Multiple Ways of Knowing
(Gilligan et al., 2006)
– Scientific knowledge
• Western/European approach; empirical analysis;
researching and recording observations
– Local knowledge
• group and place specific; direct experience; short-term
– Inuit/Inuk knowledge
• “knowledge system based on tradition that is created,
preserved and dispersed” (tradition = capacity for
adjustment to environmental extremes)
• inter-generational, interconnectivity within and between
human-natural systems
(Furgal, Fletcher and Dickson, 2006 for Environment Canada)
Importance of Assessing
Knowledge Integration in the
Policy Process
With whom do climate change policy stakeholders at
different levels of government (e.g., regional,
territorial, national) share information about specific
community knowledge projects?
What value is attached to different types of
knowledge (Inuit, local, scientific)?
How do these communications benefit or harm the
community of origin?
Research Question
and Objectives
How are multiple ways of knowing about climate
change related food insecurity in Nunavut
translated from research to policy?
1. develop an evaluative tool (i.e., a protocol) for assessing
information exchange based on multiple ways of knowing
2. engage stakeholders in a dialogue (i.e., mapping exercise)
of knowledge sharing about their policy stories
Proposed Methods:
Knowledge Network Mapping
(Mertens et al., 2005)
• Purpose
– connect micro (individual) to macro (institutional or
inter-institutional)
• Benefits
– understand connectivity between otherwise
isolated nodes
– visual illustration of relationships between nodes
including information flows
– identify who is involved (and who is absent) and to
what extent
Proposed Methods:
Mapping Interviews
Initial goal: develop protocol for mapping interviews
– descriptive and participatory
• 15+ minutes for survey plus input on procedure
• questionnaire: information use, prioritization, knowledge
specification (output -> knowledge map)
• parallel dialogue about the nature of knowledge sharing
(output -> narrative policy analysis)
– bi-directional snowball sampling
• begin with disseminated findings (e.g., for sale ski-doo)
• info sharing; saturation
– local-up, national-down
Informal institutional knowledge networks
Source: Chan & Liebowitz, 2006
QHRC
Amaruq Hunters and Trappers Committee
Iqaluit Municipal Council
GN: Department of Environment
GN: Department of Health and Social Services
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
Indian and Northern Affairs
Health Canada
Legend
Knowledge Type
local
scientific
mixed
traditional
Priority
food security
conservation
QHRC
Amaruq Hunters and Trappers Committee
Iqaluit Municipal Council
GN: Department of Environment
GN: Department of Health and Social Services
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
Indian and Northern Affairs
Health Canada
Legend
Knowledge Type
local
scientific
mixed
traditional
Priority
food security
conservation
QHRC
Amaruq Hunters and Trappers Committee
Iqaluit Municipal Council
GN: Department of Environment
GN: Department of Health and Social Services
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
Indian and Northern Affairs
Health Canada
Legend
Knowledge Type
local
scientific
mixed
traditional
Priority
food security
conservation
Potential Contributions
Theory: Is the integration of various types of knowledge
(e.g., Inuit, local, scientific, etc.) possible; and, if so how does this facilitate or constrain community
participation in environment and health policy
development?
Method: Is rigour enhanced by first mapping the
structure of institutional communications across
scales and then exploring the processes underlying
this knowledge exchange?
Policy: What opportunities and obstacles for
communicating about climate change adaptation
policy development might the synthesis of these
‘policy stories’ uncover?
Acknowledgements
• My committee (York U): Bonnie Kettel, Martin Bunch,
Karen Kraft Sloan, and Rick Bello
• Collaborators: Michael Svoboda (Arctic Borderlands
Ecological Knowledge Co-op), Scot Nickels (ITK), Eric
Loring (ITK), Carrie Grable (ITK), Erin Meyers (FNIHBHC), and Diane McClymont Peace (FNIHB-HC)
• ArcticNet Project Member: “Integrating and Translating
ArcticNet Science for Sustainable Communities and
National and Global Policy and Decision-Making”
(Leaders: Chris Furgal, Trent and David Hik, U of A)
Adaptive Co-management
Parkes & Panelli, 2001
Modelling Communication:
Narrative Policy Analysis
(Roe, 1994)
Narrative Policy Analysis
• Identify the main story developed by each
opposing stakeholder group
• Consider any alternative stories, alterations to
the current stories, or potential counternarratives
• Consider how any alternatives may be
coalesced into a larger meta-narrative
Ways of Knowing: Health Risk
Management
(Gowda, 1999)
Aboriginal Medicine
• wellness orientated
• treated in
family/community
setting
• ‘why’ illness occurred
• natural and
supernatural causes
Modern Medicine
•
•
•
•
illness orientated
treated in isolation
‘how’ illness occurred
natural causes