Addressing epistemic injustices in species at risk assessments through improved credibility and legitimacy: case study of narwhal management in Ittoqqortoormiit

• Published in: NAMMCO Scientific Publications
• Main Authors: Sandré, Tanguy, Vanderlinden, Jean-Paul, Gherardi, Jeanne-Marie, Zhu, Zhiwei, Wickson, Fern
• Other Authors: Cultures, Environnements, Arctique, Représentations, Climat (CEARC), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities (SVT), University of Bergen (UiB), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables (GLACCIOS), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) (DRF (CEA)), The Arctic University of Norway Tromsø, Norway (UiT)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2024
• Subjects: epistemic injustices; narwhals; quotas; hunting; narratives; species management; decoloniality; epistemic injustices narwhals quotas hunting narratives species management decoloniality; [SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Greenland; Ittoqqortoormiit; East Greenland; kalaallit; Kalaallit Nunaat; Monodon monoceros; narwhal*; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.uvsq.fr/hal-04613729; https://hal.uvsq.fr/hal-04613729/document; https://hal.uvsq.fr/hal-04613729/file/document.pdf; https://doi.org/10.7557/3.7371

International audience The regulation of seal and whale hunting in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) belongs to the Naalakkersuisut (National Government), which is notably informed by the work of the Scientific Committee (SC) of the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO). Since 2004, quotas were set in Kalaallit Nunaat to regulate hunting practices and promote ecologically sustainable harvesting. In South East Greenland, the SC's recommendations for the closure of the narwhal (Monodon monoceros or qialuar) hunt since 2019 has met both national disagreement and local resistance due to a desire to preserve the long-standing relation with narwhals organised around hunting, which is strongly intertwined within place-based communities’ experiences. The situation requires further attention to deploy an informed dialogue in the light of both available literature and local narratives capturing knowledge and values which are underrepresented within scientific discussions, as are social sciences. Grounded in repetitive and long-standing research fieldwork in Ittoqqortoormiit, and extensive qualitative data collection from 2019 to 2023, the article shows that community members express strong attachment and concern towards narwhal hunting together with the social, economic and cultural importance of mattak (narwhal skin). Local narratives also suggest that the resistance against limitations on narwhal hunting is not to be understood only as a conservatism that aims to preserve traditional hunting practices or about sustaining economic incomes for hunters, but in a significant way as protest against epistemic injustices, resulting from a feeling of being systematically unheard, distrusted and uninvolved in decision-making processes. Together with the expression of concern and attachment for narwhal hunting, the tensions between scientific knowledge and local value and knowledge were reiterated while shared concern for the preservation of the species is affirmed. We show that legitimacy and credibility of the ...