Abstract
Building the capacity of northern communities to adapt to widespread resource development and climate change is a key governance challenge. In this paper, we provide a multi-scale analysis of adaptive capacity based on fieldwork in Fort Resolution, Northwest Territories, and highlight the governance implications. At the local level, our analysis places particular emphasis on the relationships? among adaptive capacity and the features of social organization that facilitate collaboration and cooperation for mutual benefit, the importance of local social networks, knowledge and equitable access to resources. We nest this local-scale analysis of adaptive capacity in the wider socio-political and institutional context of the North, drawing attention to the manner in which the northern economic transition, government support programs, emerging land claims processes and governance models (e.g. co-jurisdiction) can have a profound influence on the ability of communities to proactively respond to change. The analysis draws in part on 33 interviews with elders and subsistence harvesters, two workshops, 5 focus groups, a questionnaire administered to 104 heads of household, and 19 key informant interviews with leaders involved in resource management at local and regional levels. Focusing explicitly on the interactions among endogenous and exogenous dimensions of adaptive capacity provides a road map for policy, decision making and institutional development to support adaptation to social–ecological change. The insights and perspectives outlined may be usefully adapted to other communities in the North (and elsewhere) that are confronting complex issues of biophysical and socio-economic change.
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Notes
- 1.
Individuals with treaty status are members of a First Nation that has a treaty relationship with the Crown. Treaty rights in Akaitcho Territory include education, health care, hunting and fishing, annuities, and land rights (still under negotiation), among others.
- 2.
The Akaitcho Dene First Nations are pursuing a “co-existence” agreement, which emphasizes the recognition of pre-existing rights determined through the original treaty, as an alternative to the widely used comprehensive claims process. The likely outcome is an administrative division of Akaitcho territory into Dene Title Lands (under full authority of the DFN) and Co-jurisdiction Lands (where authority is shared).
- 3.
As of 2000, the Aboriginal Summit, comprised of a caucus of Northwest Territories regional Aboriginal government leaders, represented collective Aboriginal interests in negotiations with the federal and territorial governments on devolution and resource revenue sharing. After the 2007 folding of the Summit, individual regional governments have represented their own interests. Akaitcho Territory Government and the Deh Cho First Nations maintain observer status while continuing to negotiate land claim or treaty agreements (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada 2003; Government of Canada et al. 2004; Irlbacher-Fox and Mills 2007; Indian and Northern Affairs Canada 2008).
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Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to community members in Fort Resolution for sharing their time and knowledge with us. Thanks also to Pam Schaus for producing the study area maps. This research would not have been possible without funding from multiple sources, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Northern Scientific Training Program, the Canadian Polar Commission, the Oceans Management Research Network, Natural Resources Canada’s Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Program, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s Northern Research Chair Program.
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Wesche, S., Armitage, D.R. (2010). From the Inside Out: A Multi-scale Analysis of Adaptive Capacity in a Northern Community and the Governance Implications. In: Armitage, D., Plummer, R. (eds) Adaptive Capacity and Environmental Governance. Springer Series on Environmental Management. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12194-4_6
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