I chaired the science Working Group for an international conference of arctic indigenous peoples called Snowchange in August of last year (www.snowchange.org). There were several other working groups. Indigenous leaders from Greenland to Siberia gathered to share their stories of what they are seeing in changes to fish, wildlife and habitat. The list of observed changes grows longer each year:

–beaver are now in the arctic as the tree line moves north

–salmon are showing up with lesions and parasites in greater frequency

–weather is much more unpredictable, causing danger and death to hunters

–more and more salmon are appearing in the Chukchi Sea

–water levels in lakes and rivers are going down

–permafrost is melting

–reindeer are having difficulty accessing forage due to freeze-thaw-freeze cycles,

covering tundra with ice

–migratory birds are arriving earlier and leaving later

–caribou migration routes are changing dramatically

–sea ice is thinning, arriving later and departing earlier

–polar bears have been spotted by hunters at sea dead and floating in the

water because the distance between ice edge and land is too great for them to

negotiate

–all kinds of higher trophic species are declining as food becomes harder to find

These changes and more are threatening the fabric of traditional societies that are intricately linked to the natural world. As indigenous peoples begin to plan for the changes, scientists for the most part, are only focused on the effects in the natural world and not on people.

The Elders say we must learn again how to adapt to the changes that are upon us and that these changes will intensify. It is clear, from the indigenous worldview, that the progression of changes will not follow a linear progression assumed in computer models. Indigenous peoples with intimate ties to their immediate environment for hundreds of generations know that when some element of nature reaches a “tipping point”, the changes will occur rapidly and will likely be profound. Only now are scientists beginning to look at that as they observe changes more rapid than their computer model predictions. These computer models, as incredible as they may be, are unable to predict tipping points because the number of variables involved is too large and too complex. It may take decades to gather enough data to develop reliable models…and yet, the world looks to the scientists to tell them what will happen.

Given that Cartesian based science has its limitations, and given that it reflects only one way of understanding the world, it behooves policy-makers, planners, and scientists to partner with indigenous peoples who can observe subtle environmental changes at its outset (and before any scientist), in places where the people have lived for thousands of years. Indigenous peoples who have had sustained and intimate connection with the lands and waters of their ancestors understand that everything is connected, and their observation skills are based on this understanding. These ways of knowing can contribute to a deeper understanding climate induced changes and provide insight into adaptive strategies. Dependence on one way of knowing is dangerous. The challenge, in my opinion, is the cultural arrogance that says, “our way is more technologically advanced and intelligent” than any other way. This unwitting arrogance permeates all western science and the laws for environmental “management”. Indeed, in the U.S., institutions are statutorily obligated to use the “best available science” in making management decisions. This “best available science” has never been construed to mean anything more than Cartesian based science, effectively marginalizing all indigenous ways of knowing…or as the institutions would say: anecdotal sources of information.

My people, the Aleuts, have survived and thrived in the Bering Sea for ten thousand years while maintaining abundance of all fish and wildlife and the integrity of all the natural systems that sustain such abundance. Perhaps, just perhaps, such people have something to offer the world.

-- Larry Merculieff