G - I
IFM
Short Title: Indigenous Forum on Monitoring (IFM) Proposal URL: http://classic.ipy.org/development/eoi/proposal-details.php?id=396 The Indigenous Peoples Forum on Environmental Monitoring in the Arctic (IFM) will bring Indigenous knowledge and perspectives out of the anecdotal background into the forefront of environmental monitoring work in the Arctic. It will be held early on (Fall 2007) in the IPY timeframe, and will therefore be able to serve as a guiding tool to subsequent IPY Arctic initiatives. Indigenous observations are the most regular and ground-based insight on the current status of Arctic environment and wildlife. Accordingly, the IFM will highlight the capacity of Indigenous Peoples to make a crucial contribution to the design and management of Arctic environmental monitoring. It will also raise awareness of Indigenous environmental issues and concerns within the Arctic scientific community, and consequently support the active involvement of Indigenous Peoples in research that directly affects their communities and well-being. In that regards, the participation of Inuit elders in the recent United Nations climate change conference (CoP11) in Montreal highlights the unique and invaluable contribution that Indigenous Peoples observations, knowledge and experiences can bring to debates on the Arctic environment. This Indigenous-led project will actively engage members of Northern communities in defining common monitoring challenges. In doing so, the IFM will not attempt to integrate components of Indigenous knowledge into science, but will instead aim to identify how the capacity, needs and viewpoints of circumpolar Indigenous Peoples can steer environmental monitoring work conducted in the Arctic and shape related decision-making processes. By bringing together Indigenous elders, environmental practitioners, land managers and youth, the IFM will paint a comprehensive picture of the ability of Northerners to identify and respond to changes in their environment. The IFM's circumpolar linkages, supplemented by insight from the Pacific, will emphasize the human dimension of environmental change on Indigenous Peoples, and consequently the importance of environmental monitoring in the Arctic. The participation of social and natural science researchers in the IFM will also encourage the establishment of respectful connections between the holders of science-based and community-based knowledge. The IFM will blend keynote speeches, roundtables and workshops in order to adequately address issues revolving around topics such as Indigenous knowledge, the continuation of cultural practices and livelihoods, participatory research, observational capacity and monitoring needs, and community-based monitoring. More specifically, the insight of EoI ID No 100 will be sought in relation to monitoring needs on Indigenous lands, whereas the environmental baseline focus of EoI 496 will enhance discussions on observational capacity. Likewise, EoI 520 will bring legal expertise to debates surrounding Indigenous knowledge, EoI 922 will expand the IFM's coverage of community-based monitoring, EoI 503 will facilitate IFM's integration into the circumpolar observation and monitoring network, and EoI 1054 will strengthen the IFM's link to the Small Island Developing States. The IFM will draw from EoI 773's long-term ecosystem-based approach a means to merge scientific and Indigenous outlooks on the environment. Finally, the work of EoI 515 will help to illustrate how Indigenous environmental monitoring can influence governmental decision-making processes. The IFM will be held in concert with Northern Youth Abroad's youth policy forum (full proposal ID No 184), and as such will both provide an opportunity for, and be enhanced by, the involvement of northern youth.