Evaluation of Approaches to Depicting First Nations, Inupiat and Inuvialuit Environmental Information in GIS Format: Options for the Handling of Spatial Information in the Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-Op Database

As the pace of climate change continues to accelerate in the North, traditional environmental knowledge systems are increasingly recognized by researchers, land use planners, government agencies, policy-makers and indigenous peoples as important contributors to environmental impact and climate chang...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Folliott, Jadah Elizabeth (Author)
Other Authors: Duerden, Frank (Thesis advisor), Ryerson University (Degree granting institution)
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2009
Subjects:
Ice
Online Access:https://digital.library.ryerson.ca/islandora/object/RULA%3A497
id ftryersonuniv:oai:digital.library.ryerson.ca:RULA_497
record_format openpolar
spelling ftryersonuniv:oai:digital.library.ryerson.ca:RULA_497 2023-05-15T13:08:03+02:00 Evaluation of Approaches to Depicting First Nations, Inupiat and Inuvialuit Environmental Information in GIS Format: Options for the Handling of Spatial Information in the Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-Op Database Folliott, Jadah Elizabeth (Author) Duerden, Frank (Thesis advisor) Ryerson University (Degree granting institution) 2009-05-05T18:14:33-07:00 https://digital.library.ryerson.ca/islandora/object/RULA%3A497 eng eng Geographic information systems Climate Indigenous peoples Arctic regions Spatial analysis (Statistics) Text thesis 2009 ftryersonuniv 2020-07-17T12:59:47Z As the pace of climate change continues to accelerate in the North, traditional environmental knowledge systems are increasingly recognized by researchers, land use planners, government agencies, policy-makers and indigenous peoples as important contributors to environmental impact and climate change assessment and monitoring. Increasing temperatures, melting glaciers, reductions in the extent and thickness of sea ice, thawing permafrost and rising sea levels all provide strong evidence of increasing temperatures in the Arctic. This warming climate has the potential to change migration patterns, the diversity, range, and distribution of animal and plant species, and increase contaminants in the food chain from atmospheric transport of organic pollutants and mercury, thus raising concerns regarding the safety of traditional foods. Since 1996, the Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-op (ABEKC) has systematically recorded First Nations, Inupiat and Inuvialuit observations of landscape changes in the lower Mackenzie, Northern Yukon and eastern Alaska. Time-series data (regarding berry, caribou, fish, weather, ice and snow, plants, and other animal observations) have been obtained through annual interviews with the most active fishers, harvesters and hunters in the communities of Aklavik, Arctic Village, Fort McPherson, Kaktovik, Old Crow, and more recently, in Inuvik, Tsiigehtchic, and Tuktoyaktuk. An evaluation of the spatial utility of the ABEKC database and the many steps that are involved in the collection, storage, and organization of the Co-op’s data was documented. The ABEKC database provided an excellent opportunity to explore the problem of depicting complex qualitative information on northern landscape change in an intelligible GIS format. Initial attempts to develop the database in spatial format were critically evaluated and recommendations were provided in order to explore whether the data gathering and subsequent mapping process can be improved, whether more useful information can be obtained from the data, and to ensure the proper handling of the data in future years. Thesis Aklavik Arctic caribou Climate change First Nations Fort McPherson glaciers Ice Inupiat Inuvialuit Inuvik Old Crow permafrost Sea ice Tsiigehtchic Alaska Yukon Ryerson University: RULA Digital Repository Aklavik ENVELOPE(-135.011,-135.011,68.219,68.219) Arctic Fort McPherson ENVELOPE(-134.826,-134.826,67.433,67.433) Inuvik ENVELOPE(-133.610,-133.610,68.341,68.341) Tsiigehtchic ENVELOPE(-133.693,-133.693,67.429,67.429) Tuktoyaktuk ENVELOPE(-133.006,-133.006,69.425,69.425) Yukon
institution Open Polar
collection Ryerson University: RULA Digital Repository
op_collection_id ftryersonuniv
language English
topic Geographic information systems
Climate
Indigenous peoples
Arctic regions
Spatial analysis (Statistics)
spellingShingle Geographic information systems
Climate
Indigenous peoples
Arctic regions
Spatial analysis (Statistics)
Folliott, Jadah Elizabeth (Author)
Evaluation of Approaches to Depicting First Nations, Inupiat and Inuvialuit Environmental Information in GIS Format: Options for the Handling of Spatial Information in the Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-Op Database
topic_facet Geographic information systems
Climate
Indigenous peoples
Arctic regions
Spatial analysis (Statistics)
description As the pace of climate change continues to accelerate in the North, traditional environmental knowledge systems are increasingly recognized by researchers, land use planners, government agencies, policy-makers and indigenous peoples as important contributors to environmental impact and climate change assessment and monitoring. Increasing temperatures, melting glaciers, reductions in the extent and thickness of sea ice, thawing permafrost and rising sea levels all provide strong evidence of increasing temperatures in the Arctic. This warming climate has the potential to change migration patterns, the diversity, range, and distribution of animal and plant species, and increase contaminants in the food chain from atmospheric transport of organic pollutants and mercury, thus raising concerns regarding the safety of traditional foods. Since 1996, the Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-op (ABEKC) has systematically recorded First Nations, Inupiat and Inuvialuit observations of landscape changes in the lower Mackenzie, Northern Yukon and eastern Alaska. Time-series data (regarding berry, caribou, fish, weather, ice and snow, plants, and other animal observations) have been obtained through annual interviews with the most active fishers, harvesters and hunters in the communities of Aklavik, Arctic Village, Fort McPherson, Kaktovik, Old Crow, and more recently, in Inuvik, Tsiigehtchic, and Tuktoyaktuk. An evaluation of the spatial utility of the ABEKC database and the many steps that are involved in the collection, storage, and organization of the Co-op’s data was documented. The ABEKC database provided an excellent opportunity to explore the problem of depicting complex qualitative information on northern landscape change in an intelligible GIS format. Initial attempts to develop the database in spatial format were critically evaluated and recommendations were provided in order to explore whether the data gathering and subsequent mapping process can be improved, whether more useful information can be obtained from the data, and to ensure the proper handling of the data in future years.
author2 Duerden, Frank (Thesis advisor)
Ryerson University (Degree granting institution)
format Thesis
author Folliott, Jadah Elizabeth (Author)
author_facet Folliott, Jadah Elizabeth (Author)
author_sort Folliott, Jadah Elizabeth (Author)
title Evaluation of Approaches to Depicting First Nations, Inupiat and Inuvialuit Environmental Information in GIS Format: Options for the Handling of Spatial Information in the Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-Op Database
title_short Evaluation of Approaches to Depicting First Nations, Inupiat and Inuvialuit Environmental Information in GIS Format: Options for the Handling of Spatial Information in the Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-Op Database
title_full Evaluation of Approaches to Depicting First Nations, Inupiat and Inuvialuit Environmental Information in GIS Format: Options for the Handling of Spatial Information in the Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-Op Database
title_fullStr Evaluation of Approaches to Depicting First Nations, Inupiat and Inuvialuit Environmental Information in GIS Format: Options for the Handling of Spatial Information in the Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-Op Database
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of Approaches to Depicting First Nations, Inupiat and Inuvialuit Environmental Information in GIS Format: Options for the Handling of Spatial Information in the Arctic Borderlands Ecological Knowledge Co-Op Database
title_sort evaluation of approaches to depicting first nations, inupiat and inuvialuit environmental information in gis format: options for the handling of spatial information in the arctic borderlands ecological knowledge co-op database
publishDate 2009
url https://digital.library.ryerson.ca/islandora/object/RULA%3A497
long_lat ENVELOPE(-135.011,-135.011,68.219,68.219)
ENVELOPE(-134.826,-134.826,67.433,67.433)
ENVELOPE(-133.610,-133.610,68.341,68.341)
ENVELOPE(-133.693,-133.693,67.429,67.429)
ENVELOPE(-133.006,-133.006,69.425,69.425)
geographic Aklavik
Arctic
Fort McPherson
Inuvik
Tsiigehtchic
Tuktoyaktuk
Yukon
geographic_facet Aklavik
Arctic
Fort McPherson
Inuvik
Tsiigehtchic
Tuktoyaktuk
Yukon
genre Aklavik
Arctic
caribou
Climate change
First Nations
Fort McPherson
glaciers
Ice
Inupiat
Inuvialuit
Inuvik
Old Crow
permafrost
Sea ice
Tsiigehtchic
Alaska
Yukon
genre_facet Aklavik
Arctic
caribou
Climate change
First Nations
Fort McPherson
glaciers
Ice
Inupiat
Inuvialuit
Inuvik
Old Crow
permafrost
Sea ice
Tsiigehtchic
Alaska
Yukon
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