Indigenous-based Approaches to Territorial Conservation: A Case Study of the Algonquin Nation of Wolf Lake

Wolf Lake First Nation (WLFN), a community within the Algonquin Nation of Canada, has struggled with issues of self-determination and economic development that all First Nations across Canada have experienced. WLFN, with other First Nations in Canada, is advocating for the United Nation Declaration...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Conservation and Society
Main Authors: Rosanne Van Schie, Wolfgang Haider
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2015
Subjects:
Indigenous
Aboriginal
Indigenous rights
conservation
forest management
protected areas
economic development
First Nations
Algonquin
Wolf Lake First Nation
Canada
Ecology
QH540-549.5
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.4103/0972-4923.161225
https://doaj.org/article/93028470df37402eb9df3477f996be3b
Description
Summary:Wolf Lake First Nation (WLFN), a community within the Algonquin Nation of Canada, has struggled with issues of self-determination and economic development that all First Nations across Canada have experienced. WLFN, with other First Nations in Canada, is advocating for the United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as a framework for advancing their rights, dignity, survival, security, and well-being. In keeping with this, WLFN is motivated to create economic opportunities for its community that also protect their values for forest ecosystems. The surrounding region has had a long history of industrial forestry; the community has recently explored alternative economic projects, including eco-tourism and ecosystem service benefits from improved forest management. This paper outlines the history of WLFN′s relationship to the land. It highlights more recent interactions with Canadian federal and provincial governments to expand working definitions and parameters of sustainable forest management to include Indigenous approaches to territorial biodiversity conservation. The process involves competing actors and has encountered many challenges. The paper also explores the tension between grounded efforts in social, environmental, and economic change by a single First Nation, and the imperfect institutional conditions to meaningfully accommodate their work in conservation and improved forest management.

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