Dalton Miller-Jones - US grants

This award is funded by the Ethics and Values Studies component of the Science and Society Program and by the joint SBE/BIO Science and Society Initiative. The sustainability of earth's physical environment and the sustainability of local communities are intimately intertwined. In the face of growing climate change and ecological strain, research is needed on influences on successful development of plans for sustainable communities. Alaska Native communities and First Nations communities in British Columbia are currently experiencing profound changes due to climate change, population increases, natural resource demands and other physical and social pressures. Science has the potential to make important contributions to the sustainability and wellbeing of indigenous communities; Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) could help advance climate/environmental science; and collaborative sustainability planning between mainstream scientists and Native communities could provide important templates for the sustainability of other communities. Unfortunately, however, a number of obstacles stand in the way of achieving that goal. The project proposed here is focused on researching strategies for creating effective science and Native community collaborations for sustainability in the face of climate change. It will use a foundation of previous qualitative and quantitative studies by the Principal Investigator and others. Focus groups, cognitive mapping of concepts and principles of sustainability, and validated quantitative value inventories will be used to explicate the worldviews that both mainstream scientists and Native American community members bring to efforts at collaboration. All of that information will then be feed back to both groups who will use it as the basis for developing: 1) a common framework to guide joint planning efforts; 2) plans for the sustainability of Native communities in two regions (Copper River Alaska and Vancouver Island, British Columbia) and; 3) action steps for executing sustainability plans. Scientific outcomes will include documentation of TEK within and across (e.g., comparatively) communities; comparative data on Native community members, and mainstream scientists' values and norms; and tests of the strategy and process of facilitating Native-community/scientist collaborations. The results of this project will be used to inform effective collaborations of scientists and a broad range of communities for effective planning of community sustainability. This project provides a rich model that other Native communities might be able to learn from and adapt to guide their own assessment and planning activities. Moreover, planning in both indigenous and non- indigenous communities throughout North America and around the world will profit from access to the knowledge and approaches that the study will produce. Because climate change effects are hitting earlier at higher latitudes and in areas that are already environmentally fragile, approaches to dealing with them now in Alaska and British Columbia can provide models for planning that may be needed in most other parts of North America within a relatively short period of time. Thus, both the scientific and the applied results will be of relevance to science/community collaborations on a range of issues, and to sustainability planning in a broad range of communities and regions. Our model approach to environmental planning and action in Native communities will be fully documented in terms of contents, operating approaches, and lessoned learned. Information about those outcomes will be distributed through multiple means: lay and scientific publications, a website, conference presentations, and efforts to ensure its use in formal and informal education of scientists, students (Native and non-Native), and the general public.