Gagnon, Catherine A.;
Hamel, Sandra;
Russell, Don E.;
Andre, James;
Buckle, Annie;
Haogak, David;
Pascal, Jessi;
Schafer, Esau;
Powell, Todd;
Svoboda, Michael Y.;
Berteaux, Dominique
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2023-01-24
<p><span lang="EN-US">Migratory tundra caribou are ecologically and culturally critical in the circumpolar North. However, they are declining almost everywhere in North America, likely due to natural variation exacerbated by climate change and human activities. Yet, the interconnectedness between climate, caribou, and human well-being has received little attention. To address this gap, we bridged</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN">Indigenous and scientific knowledge in a single model, using as an example the Porcupine caribou herd social-ecological system. Our analysis, involving </span><span lang="EN-US">688 (fall season) and 616 (spring season) interviews conducted over nine years with 405 (fall season) and 390 (spring season) Indigenous hunters </span><span lang="EN-CA">from nine communities, demonstrates that </span><span lang="EN-US">environmental conditions, </span><span lang="EN-CA">large-scale temporal changes associated with caribou demography, and cultural practices </span><span lang="EN-US">affect hunters’ capacity to meet their needs in caribou. </span><span lang="EN">Our quantitative approach </span><span lang="EN-US">bolsters our understanding of the complex relationships between ecosystems and human welfare in environments exposed to rapid climate change and shows </span><span lang="EN">the benefits of long-term participatory research methods implemented by Indigenous and scientific partners.</span></p>
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/