ID: 1861
Presenting Author: Lawrence Ignace
Session: 623 - Cumulative Effects: Whose Responsibility is it Anyway?
Status: pending
There remain tensions in understanding Indigenous Knowledge and it systems this provides an example of how this could be improved through Indigenous research methods.
As a global society we are exceeding the social and ecological limits of the ecosystems that sustain our livelihoods around the world. There appears to be no end to humanities’ drive for material gain and the subjugation of the natural world to maintain current levels of economic wealth. The driving forces of conservation and development are at odds, and this conflict is evident at all levels of natural resource decision-making. These concepts resource development and conservation are the hallmarks of colonial societies. International covenants/agreements have pointed to Indigenous Knowledge as a means of shifting understanding and bringing Indigenous Peoples into the fold. There remains a lack of understanding as to how this can be done in a good way an Indigenous way. Indigenous research methods and collaborative approaches have a lot to offer in re-positioning understanding within conventional resource management, and Cumulative Effects Assessment and Management (CEAM) because they start with the need for building an understanding for the kind of relationship that needs to be establish. Through Indigenous and mixed research methods Kluane First Nation (KFN) has co-developed a knowledge map that expands and clarifies how their identity and reality fits within the world. The map can act as an interface in how to co-produce transformative processes for re-imaging CEAM within a resource management context. To truly create space for Indigenous Knowledge Systems/science within CEAM a typology has been developed to improve the theory and practice of CEAM.
Lawrence Ignace is a PhD candidate with School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. As an Anishinaabe, he grew up in Ignace, Ontario and is a member of Nezaadiikaang.
Coauthor 1: Mary-Jane (Gudia) Johnson