Changing the System NWT Species at Risk Committee, as told to Jessica Davye-Quantick
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Abstract
Although Indigenous knowledge is sometimes ‘integrated’ into species assessments elsewhere, the strongly technical and quantitative nature of the process favours scientific knowledge, often to the exclusion of expertise from Indigenous knowledge systems.
In 2021, the Species at Risk Committee adopted a dual approach to species assessment. Each species is assessed using two separate sets of criteria—one based in Indigenous knowledge and the other in science.
Looking at the information in different ways, and fully considering each kind of knowledge, SARC arrives at a final status assessment based on a consensus among members and supported by criteria from either or both knowledge systems.
This unique approach allows for the information to be considered in the way that is most appropriate to each kind of knowledge. These assessments are used by wildlife co-management boards and governments, to inform decisions on managing species in the Northwest Territories.
In March 2023, the journal Biological Conservation published a paper by SARC members called “Equal Use of Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge in Species Assessments: A case study from the Northwest Territories, Canada.” The paper has been drawing attention from across the scientific community and offers a new model for collaborative species assessment that could be adapted for use around the world. The dual approach has been used to assess polar bear, peregrine falcon, Peary caribou, boreal caribou, American white pelican and Dolphin and Union caribou.
Jessica Davey-Quantick sat down with some of the paper’s authors including current or former Species at Risk Secretariat staff Claire Singer, Mélanie Routh, and Michele Grabke, and Aimee Guile, a conservation biologist for the Wek’èezhìı Renewable Research Board and a SARC member, to find out more about how the NWT is on the forefront of considering best available information from both Indigenous and scientific knowledge to better manage our species.