Atlas of Community-Based Monitoring in a Changing Arctic - Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks
Original (non-English) name
Acronym
Atlas of Community-Based Monitoring in a Changing Arctic - SAON
Citation
Abstract
Welcome to the Atlas of Community-Based Monitoring in a Changing Arctic. Arctic communities are actively involved with observing social and environmental change; this atlas was designed to showcase the many community-based monitoring (CBM) and Indigenous Knowledge (IK) initiatives across the circumpolar region.
While interest in community-based monitoring (CBM) is growing, there has been little coordination of initiatives at a circumpolar level. The Atlas of Community-Based Monitoring in a Changing Arctic was initiated as a task of the Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON) to help address this gap. It is intended to serve as an inventory of initiatives that will assist with network building and identification of best practices and challenges for the field. A secondary phase of the project will draw on CBM initiatives inventoried by the atlas, as well as a literature review, and interviews and input from practitioners, to draft a review of the state of CBM in the Arctic.
CBM and TK initiatives are identified for the atlas through outreach by project collaborators and content partners. Many initiatives have provided information directly to the atlas, while in some cases, information was drawn from published articles or information that project Principal Investigators (PIs) have made publicly available on the Internet. In these cases, project PIs have been contacted to request permission to add them to the atlas.
Anticipated benefits of this project include: 1) Communities involved in monitoring will have an easier time connecting with one another and will have a better sense of how their approaches to monitoring fit within a wider context; 2) Researchers, funders, and other members of the Arctic monitoring community will better understand the role and potential of community-based monitoring.
The atlas is being developed under the direction of the Inuit Circumpolar Council in partnership with Brown University, the Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA), and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami's Inuit Qaujisarvingat: Inuit Knowledge Centre. The atlas draws on the Nunaliit Atlas Framework hosted by Carleton University's Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre.
Additionally, a number of institutions are collaborating as "content partners" by assisting with identification of CBM and Indigenous Knowledge (IK) initiatives. Content partners include the European Commission through their "Study on Arctic Lay and Traditional Knowledge: Community-based Monitoring Programmes in the EU Arctic," implemented by the Nordic Agency for Development and Ecology (NORDECO). Additionally, the Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS) and Alaska Sea Grant are assisting with identification of CBM initiatives in Alaska.
While the Atlas was initially developed with a focus on environmental monitoring programs, environmental change and social change in the Arctic are significantly connected. Additionally, many communities take a holistic perspective on change and emphasize connections and linkages between the environment and society. The atlas was designed to be flexible to allow mapping of social and environmental monitoring initiatives. As a pilot social monitoring focus, we are currently working on developing a Mental Health and Wellness map within the atlas that draws on the Circumpolar Inuit Health Priorities: Best Health Practices and Research, a report completed in 2012 by ICC-Canada. We envision expanding this map to include other health and wellness initiatives in the future.