Science based Conservation

You have found a "Wrecksite". Here and there, "shipwrecks" will manifest themselves. They gesture to the apparatuses that produce conditions under which some phenomena can exists within polar bear monitoring, my research and this knowledge-land-scape- and others cannot. Different shipwrecks gesture to different possibilities and futurities.

This one allows you to think with the im/possibilities that western science produces in polar bear conservation.

International polar bear conservation, is conducted ‘in accordance with sound conservation practices based on the best available scientific data available’ (Lentfer, 1974). Within such a (western formulated) paradigm, the world can be reduced to quantifiable bits of information that can be measured, interpreted, described, and represented: "Data".

Even in Nunavut, where Nunavut Land Claims Agreement mandates the meaningful inclusion of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (Inuit Knowledge), ‘data’ remains the widely accepted epistemological unit through which the polar bear co-management process is executed. Government of Nunavut collects knowledge on polar bears through their large scale monitoring surveys, every 10 years- which then feeds into .

Such a reductionist approach to conservation management, dominated by survey data, stands in stark contrast with many Indigenous cosmologies that consider "conservation" and "monitoring" to be inseparable from the complex relations and practices that connect humans with wildlife. "Truth" can not be claimed beyond its particular relational context in such paradigms- and are therefore resistant to the reductionism of ‘data’ (Ostern et al., 2021).

When these differences are not taken into account, they can lead to liberal interpretations of ‘data’ as an epistemologically neutral concept that can be stretched to fit all kinds of knowledges. Instead, rather than being inclusive, the classic concept of "data"- produced within the apparatus of science-based conservation- always materializes as an ontologically exclusive category that remains limited to the anthropocentric reductionism of western sciences.

After exploring this wrecksite you gained a better understanding of the different ways of knowing that are involved with polar bear conservation, management and monitoring - both internationally and in Nunavut. You suspect that the knowledge people in Gjoa haven might have on polar bears, did not play a significant role in the decisions around the McClintock Channel PBMU moratorium on polar bear hunting when it was set in 2001.

Return to cut 1 and call Gjoa Haven to see what they expect from your contributions if you would center an academic article around their experiences.

Return to Cut 1: Call Gjoa Haven