Report: Biological Diversity in the Arctic

13.12.2005 14:15
Composite report on status and trends regarding the knowledge, innovations and practices of Indigenous and local communities in the Arctic region has been published.

The Arctic area is huge and there exists an enormous diversity of peoples, cultures, practices and conditions in this area. The task at hand is to investigate the status and trends regarding the retention of traditional biodiversity-related knowledge and how it relates to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), article 8(j)-related knowledge.

You can download the report here.

Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Convention on Biological Diversity, art 8(j), and traditional ecological knowledge

3. Arctic flora and fauna

4. The state of retention of traditional biodiversity-related knowledge and identification and assessment of measures and initiatives to protect, promote and facilitate the use of traditional knowledge
4.1 The state of retention of traditional biodiversity-related knowledge
4.1.1 Flora, fauna and ecosystems
4.1.2 The meaning of birch
4.1.3 Health, medicine, shamanism, and plant knowledge
4.1.4 Land and resource use; land and resource use management
4.1.5 Climate change, global change, climate change observations
4.1.6 Arctic issues
4.1.7 Knowledge versus practice: State of retention of traditional knowledge concerning practices relevant to the customary management, conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity that are no longer maintained or are at risk of disappearing
4.1.8 Assessing the feasibility of using the existing traditional knowledge to maintain practices relevant for the management, conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity
4.1.9 Gender and traditional knowledge in the circumpolar North
4.2 Identification and assessment of measures and initiatives to protect,promote, and facilitate the use of traditional knowledge
4.2.1 International law, international organizations and institutions
4.2.2 Legislative measures including policy and Indigenous organizations
4.2.3 National and regional strategies and activities, protected areas
4.2.4 Local organizations and initiatives, trans-regional initiatives
4.2.5 Capacity building, education, language and cultural programs
4.2.6 Research, research guides, publications
4.2.7 Reintroduction of skills, knowledge and practices
4.2.8 Indigenous customary law

5. Identification of global and national processes that may threaten the maintenance, preservation and application of traditional knowledge, and processes at the local community level that may threaten the maintenance,preservation and application of traditional knowledge
5.1 Identification of global, national and local processes that may threaten the maintenance, preservation and application of traditional knowledge
5.1.1 State laws, national policies, dispossession of territories,administrative measures
5.1.2 The Intellectual property rights legislation in Canada
5.1.3 Land and resource use; land and resource management
5.1.4 Globalization, external economy and resource extraction, tourism, economic problems, marginalization of Indigenous areas
5.1.5 Climate change, global change, environmental threats
5.1.6 Modernization, unequal power, conflicts, colonialism, cultural and linguistic oppression
5.1.7 Unemployment, social problems, alcoholism, medicine and healing
5.1.8 Children, youth, and Elders
5.1.9 Environmental organizations

6. Findings and recommendations

Maps and Indigenous populations

Authors and experts

Bibliography