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.

As the International Polar Bear conservation Agreement states, polar bear management is conducted ‘in accordance with sound conservation practices based on the best available scientific data available’

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, even within knowledge co-production strategies.

However, when cultural differences are not taken into account when designing knowledge co-production strategies, they can lead to liberal interpretations of ‘data’ as an epistemologically neutral concept that can be stretched to fit all kinds of knowledges. However, instead of being an inclusive container, the classic concept of "data"- produced within the apparatus of science-based conservation- will always materializes as an ontologically exclusive category, limited to the anthropocentric reductionism of western sciences.

After exploring this Wrecksite, you suspect that the knowledge people in Gjoa Haven might have on polar bears, may not have played a meaningful role in the decisions around the McClintock Channel PBMU moratorium on polar bear hunting when it was set in 2001. Perhaps this plays into their experiences of not being heard. Maybe you can approach their interests somewhat differently?

"Return to Cut 1" and call the Gjoa Haven HTA to gain some more information and see what the board expects from an academic article around their experiences.

Return to Cut 1: Call Gjoa Haven