Local and Traditional Knowledge Indicators for Tracking Socio-Ecological Changes in Inuvialuit Fishing Livelihoods

• Main Authors: Vazquez, Iria Heredia, Hynes, Kristin, Wesche, Sonia
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: climate change; resource development; upstream-downstream impacts; traditional livelihoods; socio-ecological change; indicators; Inuvialuit; Arctic; Mackenzie Delta; Climate change
• Online Access: https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/58da6c54-424e-496f-af3b-9d7e5e3ad17a; https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-38zt-yr11

The Mackenzie Delta is an important freshwater system that is vulnerable to multiple stressors, including: climate change impacts in the Arctic; resource development activities (oil & natural gas), and upstream-downstream linkages. These pressures can affect traditional livelihoods, including fishing since the Inuvialuit rely on the land for their subsistence but also for their wellbeing. This research seeks to effectively mobilize Local and Traditional Knowledge (LTK) to understand the significance of social and ecological changes in Inuvialuit fisheries in the Mackenzie Delta. Key research questions: What are the social and ecological changes in freshwater systems that are currently observed by the fishers in the ISR? What are the indicators and methods used by fishers to identify and understand these changes? How do/are these changes affect/expected to affect fishing livelihoods and to a greater extent Indigenous communities in the ISR?