Regions: Gwich'in Settlement Area
Tags: health, ecological indicators, traditional knowledge, forestry, community engagement, land use, cultural sustainability, environment, ecological monitoring, forest ecosystem, socio-cultural, environmental health, Gwich'in, land experience, integrated resource management
| Principal Investigator: | Parlee, Brenda L (25) |
| Licence Number: | 13718 |
| Organization: | University of Manitoba |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2004
2003
|
| Issued: | Aug 31, 2004 |
| Project Team: | Christine |
Objective(s): The goal of this project is to examine sustainable forest management through social-ecological indicators of community and ecosystem health in the Gwich'in Settlement Area, NWT. The growing body of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) that has been documented in the last two decdes has provided insights into the relationships between indigenous communities and their environment. Land-based cultures require healthy ecosystems; hence healthy communities require healthy environments. Until recently the main area of study has been in the area of environment and resource management; relatively little attention has been focused on the social dimension of the human environment relationship. This gap will be addressed by developing social-ecological health indicators based on local TEK, with particular attention to forest ecosystems and non-timber related resources. This study also proposes to find ways to integrate social-ecological indicators into a participatory resource management framework . Contributions will be made to the theories of managing multifunctional forest environments, while generating practical tools to address both community and environmental health issues.
