Local Knowledge and Global Issues: Lessons from Arctic Ecohealth Experiences

Contrasting visions and experiences achieve high resolution in Arctic ecohealth issues, whether focused on contaminants or climate change. Recent reports focusing on change in the Arctic produce images of change and loss, and in part as a result of their necessarily abbreviated time horizons, have the consequent effect of inadvertently masking the adaptive potential of both ecological and social systems. This is problematic as recognition grows in policy circles of the need to move from notions of control and mitigation to strategic responses that are creative and adaptive. The local is often disassociated from central approaches to policy formation, and it is suggested here that when this is the case, there is a loss of knowledge and of diversity that otherwise might offer strength and impetus for innovation. This paper illustrates the dynamic proposed drawing from the well-articulated lessons of the Northern Contaminants Program in Canada.

Early understanding of the nature of the problem of anthropogenic contaminants in the Arctic Region was largely expert-driven and fueled by media interest. The human dimension, particularly the potential impacts for Inuit whose community members had been subjects of early research, became a strategic advantage for those seeking to leverage governmental resources in support of Arctic research. The period of time in which these issues came to national attention marked a major transition in research ethics and practices: between 1981 and 1990 a new paradigm of relational research in northern communities emerged, framed variously as community-based, cooperative and participatory research.

While the roots of these emerging relational frameworks for research were grounded variously, some in social justice, some in decolonizing perspectives and also in struggles for recognition and identity, it is the consequences for science and policy of the adoption of this relational stance that are of particular interest here.  Bridging local-global interests is a particular concern. A fine scale examination of the issues of diversity of perspectives and interests surrounding the emergence of Northern Contaminants Program; and some of the resultant successes in terms of adherent policy and science, offer insight into the practical value of practices of respect and inclusivity.  

Impacts experienced locally, coupled with scientific and policy realities rooted in complex, dynamic, ecological-social-cultural systems, provide alternative views of globalizing practices and localizing responses. These cross-scale hybrid relations also have the potential to support policy adaptation and innovation in response to significant global challenges.