From the Inside Out: A Multi-scale Analysis of Adaptive Capacity in a Northern Community and the Governance Implications

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.