Indigenous Environmental Resource Management from a Canadian perspective: Traditional Aboriginal Knowledge vs.

Western Science

Introduction (500 words)

Traditional Aboriginal Knowledge Generations of conducting tests and scrutiny were the foundation of the aboriginal peoples practices to preserve and improve their lands, waters, and living resources. It has led them to an understanding of complex ecological and physical principles. A dialectic relationship between practices and peoples belief systems were represented by aboriginal practices. Nowadays, there are estimated one million native people in Canada who can speak over fifty different languages. These people have resisted oppression by articulating their rights and responsibilities in national and international views. They see their rights dating back to colonial times when they had agreements with colonial masters. Over time, these indigenous people have successfully voiced out their rights and privileges in spite of the governments efforts in obliterating their traditional methods and customary practices in both national and international scenes. Today, natural resources have become the lifeline of global economic activities and the pillar of the Canadian economy, with impacts affecting both Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people. Recognizing the importance of natural resources, Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people each hold a different view of natural resources management. The traditional education of indigenous people has always been an ecological education focusing more on the conservation of the environment. Their ecologically-based thoughts, sentiments, and actions have become one and the same. This has resulted to a tribe of people who have adapted in a given environment with unique ways giving rise to a diverse culture that is able to express itself.

The Aborigines have understood that the natural universe is filled with life and with sacredness. It is not something that is separate from their own lives but part of their complex relationship with the environment. This understanding is part of their intellectual reality that ecology is inclusive of them as human beings. They thus view themselves and nature as part of a huge ecological family that is only viable when humans recognize its impact on their lives. This interaction results in enhancing and preserving the ecosystem which leads to environmental sustainability. The knowledge of the various ecological principles has enabled the various groups of aborigines to live sustainably within their immediate environment for so many years. The succession and the inter-relationship between the various components of the environment is a major contributor to environment conservation. Close identification with ancestral land and the spiritual belief on the power and spirituality of power has also contributed to sustainable environmental conservation. Adaptive strategies for monitoring and sustainably harvesting resources are major ecological principles that go a long way in preserving the environment. The effective systems of knowledge acquisition and transfer allows for the same information to pass from one generation to another which in essence allows for continuity in the environmental conservation efforts. The degree of assimilation with the dominant society has also varied, and along with it, retention of traditions regarding resource management techniques and knowledge systems. However, traditional knowledge among younger generations, in most indigenous groups, has inevitably diminished as assimilation and environmental change have escalated.

Resource Management (300 Words) Practices of aboriginal peoples to maintain and enhance their lands, waters, and living resources are de-rived from generations of experimentation and observation, leading to an understanding of complex eco-logical and physical principles. In fact, aboriginal practices represent a dialectic relationship between those practices and peoples' belief systems. There are three manifest levels of plant resources management. The first level is the population. It is about the reaping and upholding individual stands or patches of a plant species. The second level

is the habitats. It is about the use of fire to generate and preserve particular stage successions that are favorable to the productivity of a complex of plant species. And the last and final level is the landscapes. Here, landscape improvement is influenced by host of strategies, as well as seasonal rounds leading to variable harvesting regimes, conventions linking to rights and authority over resources, and culturally mediated prescriptions for humans relationships to plants and animals. Co-management is a recurrent theme of growing importance in the management of renewable resources in Canada, particularly where aboriginal and non-aboriginal people are interested in utilizing these resources. One of the most important vehicles for the establishment of comanagement regimes is the settlement of comprehensive aboriginal claims, which usually involves exclusive and/or preferential harvesting rights for aboriginal people on Crown lands within their claim territory and their involvement in the management of these resources. The integration and mutual accommodation of such dissimilar entities as the indigenous and state systems of resource management in any form of co-management is an extremely complicated and potentially frustrating process. The aboriginal people in Canada in regaining considerable influence over the management of resources they depend upon. Furthermore, there is a distinct possibility that down the road of political evolution co-management of natural resources will be recognized as a constitutionally entrenched right of aboriginal people. Indigenous peoples are uniquely positioned in their close and long-standing environmental relationships, yet the survival of many indigenous cultures is severely threatened by insensitive economic development.

Plants (700 Words) Every resource plant species in North America are perennials. This fact has been the basis of the techniques that are used by people to sustain the productivity of their plant resources. Consequently, a plant will never be destroyed unless an entire tree is required to be uprooted for

construction. In its place, only required parts from plants that have the capacity to regenerate are harvested. Accordingly, people from northwestern coast still harvest the inner bark of western red cedar and yellow cedar in quantity for use in basketry, cordage, mats, and clothing. On the other hand, trees seldom survive when their barks that are more than a third of their circumference are removed. Trees with house plank splits from barks, various trees which are admittance for their edible cambium tissues, and trees and shrubs whose branches and boughs were taken for various purposes such as pit-cooking to use in the house were included together with cedars and birch trees by the aboriginal people. Barks that are used for medicine are also harvested by cutting thin strips from the trunk or by clipping branches. Harvesting is highly selective just like when an entire bulb or corn is removed in the case of harvesting root vegetables. Increased capability for proliferation is the often result of careful harvesting. The efficiency of the production of the plant populations can be maintained even when numerous plant products are harvested. The usefulness and sustainability of the strategies of the aboriginal people to maintain the productivity of plant resources are borne out in the number of resources they have harvested time after time over the generations. Cutting of trees or any form of entirely removal of plants are done in the context of ecological understanding. With standing forest cover being upheld, trees were nearly harvested selectively at all times. Environmental knowledge and wisdom that take many forms were imbued to the usage of plant resources. Plant resource use is filled with ecological knowledge and wisdom that take many forms. Contemporaneous life cycles of different species i.e. flowering of certain plants and productivity of certain berries all provide indicators for people to know when to expect a salmon run, when the clams are ready to be dug, or when particular roots are ready for harvesting. Regeneration of individual plants also has been widely recognized. Pruning or burning of certain berry bushes, for ex-ample, was formerly a common practice, and resulted in long-term enhanced yields. Basketry materials, too, were and are managed and enhanced by focused cut-ting, pruning, and burning. They also had an intimate understanding of the prime habitats for various cultural

species, the conditions under which they were most productive, and the best methods for processing and storing them for the optimal utilization. These peoples practiced a range of techniques of plant propagation which included habitat management and enhancement, and soil fertilization that maximized the productivity of plant foods and materials. Trees with house planks split from them, various trees accessed for their edible cambium tissues, and trees and shrubs whose branches and boughs were taken for various purposes, from pit-cooking to use in the sweat house. The efficacy and sustainability of these strategies is borne out in the quantities of resources that people consistently harvested over many, many generations.

Animals (700 Words) Life cycles of diverse species are signs to aboriginal people to discern when to anticipate a salmon run, when the clams are ready to be dug, or when meticulous roots are ready for gathering. Examples of such life cycles are season signals like the location and the range of the snowy areas on mountains, the onset of the first snow on a fall season, quantity of birds in an exacting location, flowering of several plants, or the propagation of certain berries. Restoration or regeneration of every plant has additionally been extensively recognized. A quantity of widespread practices resulted in long-term yields such as pruning or burning of certain berry bushes. By focused cutting, pruning and burning, materials used in basketry were also handled and improved.The finest techniques for processing and storing them for the optimal utilization, the conditions under which they were most productive, and the prime habitats for various cultural species were part of the intimate understanding of the aboriginal people. The observing, supervision, harvesting of some fishes or sea foods, where seasonal, age, and gender selection, and the use of environmental and natural markers for population health was supreme were applied to some similar strategies. Hunters also carried out the reviewing and examination as they take a trip through the land and communed to their partners wives stage

plant growth. Wives, on the other hand, would trade information about the animal resources with their husbands or other relatives as they congregate the plants. Similar strategies were applied to the monitoring, management, and harvesting of salmon, shellfish, and game, where seasonal, age, and gender selection, and use of ecological indicators for population health was paramount. Monitoring and control of specific resources was of-ten undertaken by designated individuals, such as chiefs, and by families within a given territory. These people had the direct authority to manage specific fish stocks, plants, or shellfish beds, and if they noted pop-ulations in jeopardy, they could pronounce a harvesting moratorium until the situation improved.

Land (700 Words) Assigned individuals by families in a given particular land usually assume the monitoring and controlling of definite resources. The management of specific fish stocks, plants, or even shellfish beds is authorized by these designated people. They could also suspend the harvest in times of jeopardy up until the situation stabilizes. Aboriginal peoples practice of land burning and the consequential development of the species successions prove that aside from the regeneration of plants, ecological successions were also recognized. The land base is often a central subject in nearly all indigenous stories of historical origins. They often mention how they emerged in one way or another from the land. The land base, however, is the land to which they claim a relationship. It may be the land on which they now live, or a historical, or even mythical place to which they claim relationship. Their survival efforts are rooted to the fact that the ownership of the land originally belonged to them since there was an agreement between them and their colonial masters. These indigenous

people still rely on traditional methods for their livelihood. This is because these people have a long term connection, relationship and occupancy of a given land. Ecological succession was and is also recognized by aboriginal peoples through the practice of landscape burning hence enhancing the succession species. Indigenous land management systems reflect the relationship that aborigines maintain with their natural resources. It is important that ecologists, land managers, environmentalists and conservationists shift their attention to the loss of human cultures as a major reason why there are so many endangered species. The Aborigines education system ensures that the traditional land practices are transferred from their elders to their children to allow for continuous conservation efforts. Any loss of biodiversity and the need to restore any degraded land would require the need to employ these indigenous people ways in full preservation and conservation initiatives.

Conclusion (250 words) Life in any environment is viable only when humans live in harmony with the environment surrounding them. The various natural elements of an ecosystem form the basis for a mutual relationship that needs to be preserved. Any positive or negative effects on the environment usually affect the livelihoods of the people living around that particular environment. There is need to focus more on communicating knowledge that can enrich our lives and help us to achieve a better, more sustainable relationship with our environment.

Conclusion