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Article Excerpt
ABSTRACT. In a community-directed forest management context, research is needed that will help both the managers of forest resources and the community residents who set forest management directions to consider climate change in their decision making. Specific research needed in light of climate change to support implementation of the forest management plan for the Champagne and Aishihik Traditional Territory, southwest Yukon, was identified through 1) sessions with local forest practitioners and 2) a community climate change workshop. Local residents highlighted the importance of formalizing a monitoring network based on local knowledge as part of a broader adaptive management framework. They also wanted an important role in any discussion on adapting existing forest management plans, practices, and policies to incorporate climate change considerations. Forest practitioners expressed a need for research to identify forest management tactics that would enable them to achieve community-directed forest management objectives in light of climate change. Addressing these research needs will have benefits beyond just adapting forest management to climate change. Climate change is providing the impetus and a forum for discussing a broader issue: the need for a more comprehensive research and monitoring program to support the sustainable management of forest resources.
Key words: climate change, impacts, adaptation, sustainable forest management, southwest Yukon, spruce bark beetle, Yukon Territory, Champagne and Aishihik Traditional Territory, research needs, monitoring
RESUME. Dans le contexte deI'amenagement forestier communautaire, il y a lieu de faire des travaux de recherche pour aider les gestionnaires des ressources forestieres et les habitants des collectivites qui donnent le ton a l'amenagement forestier a tenir compte du changement climatique lorsqu'ils prennent des decisions. La necessite de faire des recherches specifiques a la lumiere du changement climatique dans le but d'appuyer la mise en oeuvre du plan d'amenagement forestier du territoire traditionnel des Premieres nations de Champagne et d'Aishihik, dans le sud-ouest du Yukon, est ressortie: 1) de seances avec des specialistes en amenagement forestier de la region et 2) d'un atelier communautaire sur le changement climatique. Les habitants de la region ont fait remarquer I'importance d'officialiser un reseau de surveillance s'appuyant sur les connaissances locales dans un cadre plus large de gestion adaptative. Iis desirent egalement jouer un role important dans toute discussion sur l'adaptation des pratiques, des politiques et des plans actuels d'amenagement forestier pour tenir compte des considerations en matiere de changement climatique. Les specialistes de l'amenagement forestier ont egalement mentionne que la recherche doit determiner les tactiques d'amenagement forestier qui leur permettraient d'atteindre des objectifs d'amenagement forestier communautaire a la lumiere du changement climatique. Le fait de s'acquitter de ces besoins en recherche aura des incidences qui iront au-dela de l'adaptation de l'amenagement forestier au changement climatique. Le changement climatique fournit en fait I'elan et la tribune necessaires a la discussion d'un enjeu de plus grande envergure, soit la necessite de se doter d'un programme de recherche et de surveillance plus complet pour appuyer la gestion durable des ressources forestieres.
Mots cles: changement climatique, impacts, adaptation, amenagement forestier durable, sud-ouest du Yukon, scolyte de l'ecorce, territoire du Yukon, territoire traditionnel des Premieres nations de Champagne et d'Aishihik, besoins en recherche, surveillance
Traduit pour la revue Arctic par Nicole Giguere.
INTRODUCTION
There is now clear evidence that climate change is occurring in regions where forest-based communities and forest ecosystems are vulnerable (Juday et al., 2004; IPCC, 2007). Even the most aggressive measures to control greenhouse gas emissions will not prevent continued warming (IPCC, 2007). Recent studies documenting research needs associated with climate change have identified the need to expand both observational and experimental work on ecosystem processes and regional and larger-scale observational, monitoring, and modeling studies (Morgan et al., 2001; ACIA, 2004; C-CIARN North, 2004a, b, c; Mallory et al., 2006; IPCC, 2007). These new data sets and models will increase our ability to forecast ecosystem change and identify vulnerabilities and help us to identify appropriate adaptation options (Clark et al., 2001; IPCC, 2007). However, while research can make valuable contributions to reducing uncertainties, uncertainty is not likely to be reduced dramatically in the next few decades (e.g., Morgan and Keith, 1995; Schneider, 2003). This "deep uncertainty" originates from a variety of factors, including a lack of information, disagreement about what is known or even knowable, long time scales, complexity of the climate system, measurement error, and problems associated with subjective judgments (Moss and Schneider, 2000; Schneider, 2003; Kandlikar et al., 2005). Substantial investments in research will therefore be required if the uncertainties associated with climate change are to be reduced significantly. However, such needs occur within the context of limited resources for research and declining resources for monitoring. Research that targets questions that forest managers need answered to incorporate climate change considerations more effectively into their decision making is likely to have the greatest benefit-cost ratio.
Forest practitioners play a key role in the planning and management of forest-based resources. Practitioners are responsible for developing management strategies to meet objectives established through multi-stakeholder forest management planning processes (Williamson et al., 2005). Practitioners work at the interface of local, scientific, and government knowledge and priorities; in the Canadian North, they are most likely to be employed by territorial or First Nation governments or by non-governmental organizations that drive forestry decision making. Northern forest practitioners may possess social, cultural, economic, or environmental expertise and may be holders of local, traditional, or scientific knowledge of forest-based resources, or have some combination of these traits (Ogden and Innes, 2007). While practitioners often have limited time to locate and review research results--these challenges are well known to those who work at the interface between science and policy (e.g., Gamborg et al., 2004; IUFRO, 2007)--it is important to engage them in setting a research agenda because of the interacting climatic and societal influences on ecosystems (Clark et al., 2001). In addition, forest management recommendations arising from research will be more successful if local practitioners help to identify and develop them. Such recommendations are more likely to be consistent with local priorities, norms, and institutions and mainstreamed within regional forest management goals and objectives (Newton et al., 2005; Chapin et al., 2006; Ogden and Innes, 2007).
Recent developments in natural resource management in Canada's North have generated important considerations for research programs targeted to support decision-making. These considerations include 1) changes in the governance of lands and resources resulting from settled land claims and self-government agreements; 2) increased awareness of the value of local and traditional knowledge; and 3) increased desire for local involvement in research activities. First, the distinct differences in the new governance regimes highlight the limited prospects for importing ideas from elsewhere about research needs to support decision making on resource management. In addition, new governance regimes create a need to develop stronger relationships and enhance information sharing between community residents, government agencies, and academics (e.g., Berkes and Jolly, 2002; Wortley, 2003; Clarke and Slocombe, 2004). Therefore, any process to identify research needs that involves developing understanding among these groups is likely to be beneficial. Second, recent efforts to document local and traditional knowledge on changing local and regional conditions are providing extremely valuable insights into vulnerabilities to those changing conditions (e.g., Reidlinger and Berkes, 2001; Berkes and Jolly, 2002; Ford et al., 2006; Gearheard et al., 2006). Awareness of the value of these knowledge systems for identifying and assessing climate change impacts and vulnerabilities for forest-based communities is also increasing (Williamson et al., 2007; Keskitalo, 2004; Klo-progge and van der Sluijs, 2006). Consequently, any process to identify research needs would benefit from drawing on this diverse knowledge base. Finally, research that generates management-oriented recommendations but does not involve local residents, especially in a northern context, is far less likely to be accepted or adopted (Newton et al., 2005). This is particularly true because resource management decisions based on research and monitoring results can significantly affect local communities. Local residents should therefore play an important role in all stages of the research process, including the identification of knowledge gaps, documentation of changes, identification of vulnerabilities, and discussion of the implications of research results for local management decisions (RMTWG, 2005). Several recent examples show the progress that has been made in engaging northern residents in defining research activities (e.g., IPY, 2005; Mallory et al., 2006).
The scale at which uncertainties and knowledge gaps are identified is critical to the identification of research needs that support policy development and decision making. In a recent study, forest practitioners in the Yukon and Northwest Territories highlighted several areas where additional information on climate change impacts would have a significant influence on their decisions (Ogden and Innes, 2007). However, the same practitioners also expressed difficulties in assessing adaptation options and research needs outside a specific geographical context, such as a forest management planning unit, where regionally defined objectives and values for forest management have already been identified. A forest management planning area therefore seems an appropriate scale for identifying research needs associated with decision making (Ogden and Innes, 2007).
Unfortunately, those who are responsible for developing management strategies and those affected by research-based forest management decisions are rarely involved in setting the research agenda. The development of a community-based forest management research program to support decision making for adaptation is likely to benefit greatly from the engagement of both the practitioners who are responsible for developing management strategies and the community members who set the forest management directions in identifying research needs. This paper describes the research needs identified by local forest practitioners and local residents to incorporate climate change considerations into the implementation of the Strategic Forest Management Plan (ARRC, 2004) for the Champagne and Aishihik Traditional Territory in southwest Yukon. The intent is to identify research needs, not to prioritize them.
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STUDY AREA
The study area encompassed the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations Traditional Territory (CATT) in the southwestern Yukon, Canada (Fig. 1). Over the past 15 years, this region has been experiencing early signs of climate change, notably warmer winters and warmer and drier summers. These changing conditions have contributed to a severe outbreak of the spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis Kirby) affecting almost two-thirds of a white spruce (Picea glauca) forest in the region estimated at 600000 ha (ACIA, 2004; Garbutt, 2005; Garbutt et al., 2007; Ogden, 2007). This is the largest and most intense outbreak of spruce beetle ever to affect Canada (ACIA, 2004). While climate has played a critical role in increasing the population of beetles to epidemic levels and weakening the defenses of the spruce trees, the extensive forests of mature white spruce characteristic of this region have exacerbated the infestation.
This spruce beetle outbreak has been driving regional forest management and planning efforts since the mid-1990s. In December 2004, a Strategic Forest Management Plan (SFMP) was recommended by the locally based Alsek Renewable Resource Council and jointly approved by the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations Government, and the Government of Yukon (ARRC, 2004). The plan outlines community-directed goals and objectives for forest management and identifies reducing fire hazard, promoting forest renewal, providing for economic activity, and preserving...
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