Research and monitoring priorities and gaps As the climate changes, more monitoring – and research work is needed to determine new baselines and to understand what is happening. Particular areas of concern include: There needs to be better coordination and inventories of research and monitoring work already happening in order to identify gaps and priorities; Research and monitoring work should try to identify ahead of time so that proper planning and risk work can be done. We want to avoid reacting to crises, as this approach tends to be more expensive; There needs to be more community-based monitoring and consistent funding to develop monitoring capacity; and, There needs to be more monitoring of impacts, including: human health indicators; air quality; water quality (especially in terms of transboundary impacts) and quantity; economic and culturally important animal species; invasive species; and weather patterns. Community-based monitoring There was a broad consensus among the participants – that more community-based monitoring is needed to understand climate change and build capacity within the communities. Consistent funding for monitoring capacity would improve this. The GNWT should provide a technician-type position in all NWT communities to focus on the climate change and environmental interests of the community. This employee would help represent local interests and concerns, establish priorities, and ensure plain language communication of information to community members. Accessing and traditional and local knowledge The use of traditional and local – knowledge is a key concern. To ensure TK is respected and used appropriately, it is necessary to understand certain things about TK and how it can be used to support climate change adaptation work: TK is not transferable from one area to another; it is very specific to a location; TK must be kept with the holders of the information and there must be free, prior and informed consent to access it; Researchers need to come to communities to explain their projects, how they will do them, what they need and must follow up to explain their results afterwards, even if the results are negative; There are protocols in place that govern how TK can be used, i.e., who owns the intellectual property, what the terms and conditions are for studies, etc.; TK is closely connected to nature: it tells the story of how things are (the natural order) and when things are changing. Western science should fill the gap by
Research and monitoring priorities and gaps – As the climate changes, more monitoring and research work is needed to determine new baselines and to understand what is happening. Particular areas of concern include: There needs to be better coordination and inventories of research and monitoring work already happening in order to identify gaps and priorities; Research and monitoring work should try to identify ahead of time so that proper planning and risk work can be done. We want to avoid reacting to crises, as this approach tends to be more expensive; There needs to be more community-based monitoring and consistent funding to develop monitoring capacity; and, There needs to be more monitoring of impacts, including: human health indicators; air quality; water quality (especially in terms of transboundary impacts) and quantity; economic and culturally important animal species; invasive species; and weather patterns. Community-based monitoring – There was a broad consensus among the participants that more community-based monitoring is needed to understand climate change and build capacity within the communities. Consistent funding for monitoring capacity would improve this. The GNWT should provide a technician-type position in all NWT communities to focus on the climate change and environmental interests of the community. This employee would help represent local interests and concerns, establish priorities, and ensure plain language communication of information to community members. Accessing and traditional and local knowledge – The use of traditional and local knowledge is a key concern. To ensure TK is respected and used appropriately, it is necessary to understand certain things about TK and how it can be used to support climate change adaptation work: TK is not transferable from one area to another; it is very specific to a location; TK must be kept with the holders of the information and there must be free, prior and informed consent to access it; Researchers need to come to communities to explain their projects, how they will do them, what they need and must follow up to explain their results afterwards, even if the results are negative; There are protocols in place that govern how TK can be used, i.e., who owns the intellectual property, what the terms and conditions are for studies, etc.; TK is closely connected to nature: it tells the story of how things are (the natural order) and when things are changing. Western science should fill the gap by
regional_workshop_summary_report_-_fort_smith_april_2017.docx