NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Dehcho Region

Tags: climate change, food security

Objective(s): To compile existing baseline data and traditional knowledge on local climate changes and their impacts to land, water, animals, traditional harvesting practices and subsequent impacts to community health and well-being of Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation community members.

Project Description: Objectives of this research project are to: 1) compile existing baseline data and traditional knowledge to establish a preliminary state of knowledge report on local climate changes and their impacts to land, water, animals, traditional harvesting practices and subsequent impacts to community health and well-being; 2) assess the vulnerability of Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation community members to climate change impacts with a focus on impacts to harvesting practices and subsequent food security now and in the future; 3) document Elder and land-user perspectives of climate change in order to understand current and future climate change implications for food harvesting practices; 4) identify adaptation strategies currently employed or possible for future application by Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation in order to mitigate any adverse impacts to traditional harvesting practices and community health and well-being; 5) develop a climate change and food sustainability planning tool for use by NWT and other northern Canadian communities, particularly those within the Dehcho Region; 6) maintain the potential for traditional harvesting practices to ensure that wildlife and harvested plants continue to provide an important component and affordable, healthy and sustainable eating for Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation members; 7) continue documenting and monitoring climate change impacts with adaptive management responses in order to sustain traditional harvesting practices; and 8) build capacity within Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation for effective environmental coordination and climate change adaptation planning. Climate change impacts and adaptation strategies will be explored in Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation through a mixed methods approach. The project follows a single case-study design, with Ka' a'gee Tu First Nation being the primary unit of analysis. The project team will begin by conducting a literature review to establish a state of the knowledge report compiling existing science and traditional knowledge about local climate changes and their impacts to land, water, animals, traditional harvesting practices and the associated impacts to community health and well-being. Such knowledge will be combined into a comprehensive background report, which will guide the development of an interview guide for the community interviews. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with twenty land-users in order to document their traditional knowledge about climate change, its impacts on harvesting and current or possible adaptation strategies. The interviews will seek to elicit information about the role of harvested foods in the daily lives of community members, the types of products that get harvested, their seasonal harvesting traditions, and any adaptation strategies that have been adopted in the past. Potential exercises that may be used during the interviews include storytelling, community mapping and visioning activities. Once the interview information is analyzed and synthesized, the land-users and community youth will be invited to attend a workshop where preliminary adaptation strategies can be further disused and explored. This will lead to the development of an adaptation plan. Although this project focuses on Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation as a case-study community, the research team intend to generalize the findings into a model and preparing a tool-kit that other Aboriginal communities in the NWT (particularly in the Dehcho region where climate and landscape changes and subsequent challenges are similar) can use to conduct similar food security vulnerability assessments and planning exercises. Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation is collaborating with Ecology North, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Cumulative Impacts Monitoring Program and Wilfrid Laurier University’s Centre for Sustainable Food Systems to investigate climate change impacts to community food sustainability and to develop strategies to address emerging opportunities and challenges. The project is intended to benefit Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation by providing a better understanding of the extent of climate change impacts and consequences for community members with respect to their access to community food. The purpose of this project is to use this detailed understanding to identify ways to address and mitigate the climate change impacts the community is experiencing. The ultimate goal is to develop a community adaptation plan so that community members can continue to rely on country foods as a central component of their diet and their economy for generations to come. By doing so, the project will help support and build on a recent survey of community members that was carried out by the regional tribal council (Dehcho First Nation) which indicates the critical importance of community foods to community members' diets. The entire project will also provide experiential and well-supported learning opportunities for the Ka'a'gee Tu Environmental Coordinator Trainee who will lead the coordination with the community and much of the field-based work. Through her role in this project the Environmental Coordinator will gain capacity, independence and greater confidence with strengthened skills in qualitative research skills, writing, and information synthesis. It is also important to note that the community will be consulted and encouraged to actively participate in every stage of the project. The research will begin with community consultation about the challenges and opportunities connected to understanding and ensuring community food security, its links to climate change, health and northern traditional and waged economic activity. Feedback about the study is anticipated by December 2014. Results and information from the study will be summarized and communicated back to the community during community meetings and through plain language workshops, summary reports and posters. A plain language synthesis of the preliminary results will be provided to interview participants in November of 2014. Once participants have an opportunity to review and confirm the results in the report, a results workshop will be held. This workshop is planned for December 2014. The results from the interviews and workshop will be compiled into a final report that will be made available to community members through the community band office. A plain language poster summarizing the research results will also be prepared and posted in the community by February 2015. Finally, the project team will use the results from this project to develop a tool for other NWT communities to use to plan for food security with climate change. This tool will be disseminated in early March 2015. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from July 9, 2014 to December 31, 2014.