Applying lessons from Indigenous governance in the Circumpolar Arctic
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The Arctic Governance Project, initiated by a number of private foundations in the US, Canada and Europe, is collecting the views of all interested parties regarding options for addressing the demand for stronger governance in the region (see www.arcticgovernance.org for more information). As part of this, the project is supporting a 4-pronged strategy to document Indigenous approaches to governance in the circumpolar Arctic at the local, regional and international level. Thus far, the plan involves four complementary studies described below which are designed to amplify the voices of Indigenous arctic people and inform the discussions about the future of the Arctic region.
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Component A consists of a small team of geographically dispersed Indigenous researchers who will investigate what the Indigenous decision making processes have been and what has made it particularly effective. The team is being spearheaded by Joanne Barnaby. Under Joanne’s leadership, the team will be utilizing oral and video archives to explore how traditional decision-making systems and practices can be utilized by modern governments and organizations. The product of this work will be a short film and discussion paper that will be part of the compendium available on the Arctic Governance website. Some of the questions the paper will explore include:
- Protocols – What protocols or rules were in place? What purpose did they serve? How can we draw on these in the international context to involve Elders and address impacts on future generations?
- Principles and values – What were the underlying principles and values at play in effective governance? Did people talk openly about them? To what extent can values such as reciprocity and respect for autonomy be codified in the modern context?
- Process – What were the key steps in traditional decision-making processes?
- Leadership – What qualified people for leadership? Were there
leaders for different needs?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Component B is undertaken by Terry Fenge and Bernard Funston, two Canadian international policy experts who have been involved with Arctic issues for two decades. They are investigating and documenting the role and recognition (or lack thereof) of Indigenous Peoples and traditional knowledge in existing international treaties, laws and multilateral arrangements relevant to the Arctic.
The study looks at:
International treaties, such as migratory species laws, conventions, human rights instruments and soft law arrangements; Analyzing how these international agreements relate to regional governance arrangements and claims of sovereignty, co-management, and self-rule; and Identifying key principles from existing arrangements that would be useful for future governance arrangements.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Component C is comprised of a paper researched by Gail Fondahl of the University of Northern British Columbia. As her main research interests relate to legal geographies of aboriginal land rights and land claims in the Russian North, Fondahl will focus much of her study on Russia. The product will be a listing of existing literature on indigenous/traditional forms of governance in the circumpolar Arctic together with a survey of the main forms of governance developed and practiced among various indigenous communities in the Arctic. She will distill principles from the experience that may be relevant to addressing issues of Arctic governance today. The report will survey. The term governance is used here to refer to recognized and authoritative (though often informal) practices human communities develop to deal with the need for collective decision-making regarding such matters as human-environment relations (e.g. decisions about hunting and gathering), relations among members of individual communities (e.g. rules and norms regarding the allocation of communal tasks), and relations with other communities or recognized groups (e.g. interactions with other indigenous peoples).
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Component D includes a paper that will be written jointly by the Indigenous Permanent Participant organizations to the Arctic Council detailing their experience with Arctic Governance including, but not limited to, the Arctic Council. The Permanent Participants are:Aleut International Association (US-Russia)
Arctic Athabaskan Council (Canada-US)
Gwich’in Council International (Canada-US)
Inuit Circumpolar Council (Canada-Greenland-US-Russia)
Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (Russia)
Saami Council (Norway-Sweden-Finland-Russia)Components A through C are being completed as a direct activity of (i.e. under contract with) the Walter & Duncan Gordon Foundation, but co-funded by the Geneva-based Oak Foundation and Seattle-based Wilburforce Foundation.
For more information, contact Jennifer Grimm, Secretariat – Arctic Funders Group
