NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region

Tags: social sciences, climate change, adaptation planning

Objective(s): To facilitate the generation, documentation, and two-way sharing of observations, experiences and knowledge of changing climatic conditions and the costs of hunting among hunters.

Project Description: The broad aim of the TOONIKTOYAK project is: 1) to facilitate the generation, documentation, and two-way sharing of observations, experiences and knowledge of changing climatic conditions and the costs of hunting among hunters, researchers and decision-makers, to enhance the safety and success of our hunters and provide timely information for decision-making. The specific objectives of the project are: 1) To assist hunters collect and record information about unusual conditions encountered, hazards faced, coping mechanisms used, challenges experienced, and changes in the weather, wildlife and travel routes, and economic costs of hunting; 2) To provide a venue for hunters, researchers and decision-makers to identify and share their observations, concerns, and information needs; and 3) To implement a key findings and recommendations of the Arctic Monitoring and Adaptation Program’s (AMAP) report “Actions for a Changing Arctic – Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Sea Region” and share the project outcomes with the broader AMAP community. The project will be undertaken in Ulukhaktok by Inuit with support from Dr. Tristan Pearce (Geographer), Dr. James Ford (Geographer), Dr. Lisa Loseto (Marine Biologist), and Arctic Monitoring and Adaptation Program (AMAP) researchers. The TONIKTOYOK project builds upon existing relationships between the community and researchers and brings together ongoing research interests that aim to improve our understanding of changing conditions. The project will be overseen by a four-person Inuit Oversight Committee who will guide project activities, the development and sharing of project outcomes. The Oversight Committee and project team will meet six times during the project, to update project activities, and ensure that project goals are met. This project is focused on collecting real-time information about changing conditions at two levels: active hunters and key informants. A team of active hunters will be equipped with GPS units. They will take these units on every trip throughout the year to record land use data, downloading trip data and answering a series of fixed questions on their activities bi-weekly (a project coordinator will facilitate this). Questions will focus on decisions made, hazards faced, coping mechanisms used, unusual conditions encountered, challenges experienced, and changes in climatic and non-climatic factors observed (such as costs). These efforts will develop real-time data on land use, the characteristics of climate-related risks and relationships with adaptive capacity, trace the implications of socio-economic stresses for experience and response to climatic risks, and locate thresholds in adaptive response, while also providing a venue for hunters to identify their concerns and information needs. This information will be compared and cross-referenced with data from instrumental datasets on sea ice (satellite data) and weather conditions (met. station data). It will build upon ongoing research integrating social and biophysical data by the project team and others. This will allow us to begin to develop an understanding of the nature of climatic risks and adaptation options from both an Inuit knowledge perspective and from instrumental observations. During regular community visits, research partners will debrief with the hunters, providing opportunities for the two-way sharing of knowledge and communication of concerns and information needs. Two key informants, who are affiliated with an active hunter (e.g. family member), will be recruited to keep diaries of daily life in the community with specific reference to land based activities (e.g. hunting success, animals caught, dangers faced, wildlife availability) and the costs of hunting (e.g. equipment, fuel, supplies) for each trip. The project coordinator will communicate with the key informants on a bi-weekly basis, with diaries designed to further capture real-time observations of changing climatic conditions and the costs associated with hunting. Recorded GPS data will be imported into GIS software to analyse land-use by hunter and season. Bi-weekly interview data will be linked to the relevant GPS trails, geo-coded events of interest added by hunters, and handwritten notes made on maps used to classify trail conditions and characterize trail safety. Statistics including the number of trips, average trip duration, distance travelled, and average trip cost will be calculated. Data visualization and analysis will be a continuous process undertaken in collaboration with the hunting team, and will include cross-referencing with meteorological observations, satellite ice data, and observations documented by the key informants and through participant observation. Hunter and key informant observations and information needs will be communicated to research partners, through the project coordinator, on a bi-weekly basis. Researchers will use this information to guide their data collection and analysis efforts, and report findings back to the community in real-time (before publishing). Hunters, researchers and decision makers, including the Hunters and Trappers Committee, Ulukhaktok Community Corporation and others, will meet in-person four times during the project for a two-way exchange of knowledge that will guide project activities. The AMAP report identifies the development of effective partnerships in which diverse groups develop a shared vision and work cooperatively to meet common objectives as a key factor to support adaptation. The Inuit AMAP oversight committee will provide guidance and advice to AMAP representatives and work with them during the project implementation. A final report will be written that shares project experiences with the broader AMAP community. The project is designed, planned and administered by the Hamlet of Ulukhaktok. Community-Based Monitoring (CMB) involves the assistance of community members (hunters) to collect data on a specific topic on a regular basis. In this case, a hunter monitoring team consisting of active hunters equipped with GPS tracking to record their travels will assist. The data they collect will be recorded bi-weekly by a local coordinator who will ask each hunter a series of questions about their activities. Furthermore, key informants will be recruited to keep diaries of their activities, with a specific focus on their land-based activities. Research findings will be communicated on an ongoing basis among the hunter-mentors, local steering committee and Ulukhaktok community. This will be done at regular meetings, radio updates, school visits, and public sharing meetings. Seminal project findings will be communicated in the community and elsewhere using mediums such as plain-language summary reports in Inuinnaqtun and English with photos and key findings, reports and publications, and presentations. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from May 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019.