The nunavut wildlife management board’s community-based monitoring network: Documenting inuit harvesting experience using modern technology

Abstract

Community-based monitoring is a promising strategy for collaboratively documenting knowledge that has become increasingly widespread among Indigenous communities, institutions, and governments across the Arctic. In January 2012, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board launched the Community-Based Monitoring Network (CBMN) to document current Inuit harvesting practices using modern technology by engaging Inuit harvesters in Nunavut who hunt, fish, gather, and observe wildlife. We provide an overview of the CBMN and discuss the challenges and opportunities of integrating data gathered through the CBMN in co-management decision-making. The CBMN has resulted in the collection of 7225 wildlife harvest and 2623 observation records by 85 harvesters in seven communities during 5594 on the land trips covering a combined area of approximately 400 000 km2. The CBMN represents a powerful approach to knowledge production by Inuit harvesters that is relevant to wildlife managers and co-management agencies. However, the data collected through the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board’s CBMN neither follow conventional wildlife study scientific standards, nor match the outputs of participatory Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit social science research. Instead, it represents a hybrid form of the types of information typically used in resource management discussions. Although such data can inform decision-making, further work may be necessary to fulfill this potential.