Social-ecological change in Gwich’in territory: cumulative impacts in the cultural landscape, and determinants of access to fish
In the territory of the Gwich’in First Nation, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, environmental, sociocultural, and economic changes are affecting relationships between communities and the land and water. In this thesis, I used two research projects to explore the impacts of social-ecological change...
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ftuvicpubl:oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/11086 2023-05-15T16:32:22+02:00 Social-ecological change in Gwich’in territory: cumulative impacts in the cultural landscape, and determinants of access to fish Proverbs, Tracey Angela Lantz, Trevor Charles 2019 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1828/11086 English en eng http://hdl.handle.net/1828/11086 Available to the World Wide Web Gwich'in well-being access fish (food) Canadian subarctic Indigenous social-ecological change cumulative impacts cultural landscapes cultural features spatial overlay Thesis 2019 ftuvicpubl 2022-05-19T06:14:43Z In the territory of the Gwich’in First Nation, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, environmental, sociocultural, and economic changes are affecting relationships between communities and the land and water. In this thesis, I used two research projects to explore the impacts of social-ecological change in Gwich’in territory by examining cumulative impacts in the cultural landscape, and determinants of access to fish and well-being. In the first part of my MA, I used spatial overlay analysis to quantify and map: 1) cultural feature intensity, 2) cumulative environmental disturbance, and 3) overlap between disturbances and cultural features. I also interviewed four regional cultural heritage experts, who contributed critical insights into representing Gwich’in cultural features. The first two analyses indicated that overlay methods can facilitate understandings of land use and cumulative impacts, illustrating Gwich’in territory as a cultural landscape encompassing widespread, dense cultural features and diffuse, lower intensity cumulative environmental impacts. The third analysis showed that overlaying cultural feature and disturbance data is a novel, straightforward step to better incorporating cultural impacts in cumulative impact assessments. Many of the changes I mapped are affecting fishing practices central to Gwich’in livelihoods. To better understand these changes, in the second part of my MA I explored the relationship between drivers of access to fish and well-being amidst social-ecological change, by interviewing 29 Gwich’in individuals. My interviews showed that socioeconomic and environmental barriers have decreased access to fish. However, access to fish remains critical and related to well-being, driven by various socioeconomic factors. Many of these factors are reflected in sharing networks and adaptive practices that are encompassed in ecological monitoring and land-based education. These factors may strengthen Gwich’in fishing livelihoods, and highlight the importance of programs like the Rat River ... Thesis Gwich’in Northwest Territories Subarctic University of Victoria (Canada): UVicDSpace Northwest Territories Rat River ENVELOPE(-136.459,-136.459,67.775,67.775) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Victoria (Canada): UVicDSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftuvicpubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Gwich'in well-being access fish (food) Canadian subarctic Indigenous social-ecological change cumulative impacts cultural landscapes cultural features spatial overlay |
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Gwich'in well-being access fish (food) Canadian subarctic Indigenous social-ecological change cumulative impacts cultural landscapes cultural features spatial overlay Proverbs, Tracey Angela Social-ecological change in Gwich’in territory: cumulative impacts in the cultural landscape, and determinants of access to fish |
topic_facet |
Gwich'in well-being access fish (food) Canadian subarctic Indigenous social-ecological change cumulative impacts cultural landscapes cultural features spatial overlay |
description |
In the territory of the Gwich’in First Nation, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, environmental, sociocultural, and economic changes are affecting relationships between communities and the land and water. In this thesis, I used two research projects to explore the impacts of social-ecological change in Gwich’in territory by examining cumulative impacts in the cultural landscape, and determinants of access to fish and well-being. In the first part of my MA, I used spatial overlay analysis to quantify and map: 1) cultural feature intensity, 2) cumulative environmental disturbance, and 3) overlap between disturbances and cultural features. I also interviewed four regional cultural heritage experts, who contributed critical insights into representing Gwich’in cultural features. The first two analyses indicated that overlay methods can facilitate understandings of land use and cumulative impacts, illustrating Gwich’in territory as a cultural landscape encompassing widespread, dense cultural features and diffuse, lower intensity cumulative environmental impacts. The third analysis showed that overlaying cultural feature and disturbance data is a novel, straightforward step to better incorporating cultural impacts in cumulative impact assessments. Many of the changes I mapped are affecting fishing practices central to Gwich’in livelihoods. To better understand these changes, in the second part of my MA I explored the relationship between drivers of access to fish and well-being amidst social-ecological change, by interviewing 29 Gwich’in individuals. My interviews showed that socioeconomic and environmental barriers have decreased access to fish. However, access to fish remains critical and related to well-being, driven by various socioeconomic factors. Many of these factors are reflected in sharing networks and adaptive practices that are encompassed in ecological monitoring and land-based education. These factors may strengthen Gwich’in fishing livelihoods, and highlight the importance of programs like the Rat River ... |
author2 |
Lantz, Trevor Charles |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Proverbs, Tracey Angela |
author_facet |
Proverbs, Tracey Angela |
author_sort |
Proverbs, Tracey Angela |
title |
Social-ecological change in Gwich’in territory: cumulative impacts in the cultural landscape, and determinants of access to fish |
title_short |
Social-ecological change in Gwich’in territory: cumulative impacts in the cultural landscape, and determinants of access to fish |
title_full |
Social-ecological change in Gwich’in territory: cumulative impacts in the cultural landscape, and determinants of access to fish |
title_fullStr |
Social-ecological change in Gwich’in territory: cumulative impacts in the cultural landscape, and determinants of access to fish |
title_full_unstemmed |
Social-ecological change in Gwich’in territory: cumulative impacts in the cultural landscape, and determinants of access to fish |
title_sort |
social-ecological change in gwich’in territory: cumulative impacts in the cultural landscape, and determinants of access to fish |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1828/11086 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-136.459,-136.459,67.775,67.775) |
geographic |
Northwest Territories Rat River |
geographic_facet |
Northwest Territories Rat River |
genre |
Gwich’in Northwest Territories Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Gwich’in Northwest Territories Subarctic |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/1828/11086 |
op_rights |
Available to the World Wide Web |
_version_ |
1766022124638568448 |