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The article discusses the evolution of a community research partnership defining the Government of Canada International Polar Year (IPY) investigation on the study entitled "Environmental Change and Traditional Use of the Old Crow Flats in Northern Canada." It looks into the history of environmental change, the distribution and abundance of wildlife and vegetation, the impact of the environmental changes on traditional food sources. It examines the environmental monitoring development program.

This paper compares two case studies in Alaska, one on commercial fishers of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands region and the other on moose hunters of Interior Alaska, to identify how governance arrangements and management strategies enhance or limit people's ability to respond effectively to changing climatic and environmental conditions. The two groups face similar challenges regarding the impacts of a changing climate on wild fish and game, but they tell very different stories regarding how and under what conditions these impacts challenge their harvest activities. In both regions, people describe dramatic changes in weather, land, and seascape conditions, and distributions of fish and game. A key finding is that the "command-and-control" model of governance in the Alaska Interior, as implemented through state and federal management tools such as registration hunts and short open seasons, limits effective local responses to environmental conditions, while the more decentralized model of governance created by the Limited Access Privilege systems of the Bering Sea allows fishers great flexibility to respond. We discuss ways to implement aspects of a decentralized decision-making model in the Interior that would benefit hunters by increasing their adaptability and success, while also improving conservation outcomes. Our findings also demonstrate the usefulness of the diagnostic framework employed here for facilitating comparative crossregional analyses of natural resource use and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The settling of comprehensive land claims across Canada's territorial North has brought about substantial changes in governance. Prominent among these has been the establishment of numerous regulatory and co-management boards dealing with land, wildlife, and environmental issues. These boards were explicitly designed to bring significant aboriginal influence to bear in key land and wildlife decisions. To examine whether the boards have enhanced aboriginal participation and influence in these decision-making processes, factors such as the number and influence of aboriginal board members, the extent of board powers, the independence (financial and otherwise) of the boards, and the boards' willingness and capacity to incorporate traditional knowledge into their operations are considered. Overall, the evidence supports the conclusion that the land-claim boards represent an important vehicle for substantially enhanced aboriginal involvement in and influence over government decisions affecting the wildlife and environment of traditional aboriginal lands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although strong storms affect all regions of the Arctic, little research has focused on the details of their structure and evolution—particularly of the storms passing over southern Baffin Island. Such storms form in a variety of locations and often occlude before passing over the region. To study these storms, a field project was conducted at Iqaluit, Nunavut, in the eastern Canadian Arctic in the autumn of 2005. We launched rawinsondes into six storm systems and made detailed measurements that included ice crystal structure and snow accumulation. The storms had quite different histories: some produced strong winds; some produced snow, while others produced rain and freezing precipitation; and three led to record-breaking temperatures. The types of precipitation particles varied greatly, but aggregates and rimed particles dominated. When comparing the six storms, we found numerous similarities between the surface and the vertical atmospheric conditions, but there were also distinct differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes how traditional knowledge (TK) is used by two of the co-management and regulatory boards established under the comprehensive land-claim agreements in Canada's territorial North: the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB) and the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (MVEIRB). A comparison of the defining characteristics of Western ‘Weberian’ bureaucracy, which sets the framework within which these and other boards operate, and central tenets of traditional northern Aboriginal culture highlights the oftentimes stark incompatibilities between what amount to different worldviews. Both boards are shown to have made substantial and sincere efforts at incorporating TK into their practices. The NWMB, with its wildlife-focused mandate, is better able to accommodate TK in its work than is the MVEIRB, which deals with complex legal regulatory issues. Both, however, are limited in their capacity to fully incorporate TK into their operations by the exigencies of the modern bureaucratic state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reflects on the industry perspectives on barriers, hurdles, and irritants preventing development of frontier energy in Canada's Arctic Islands. The Canadian Arctic Islands and intervening channels are rich in hydrocarbon resources. Interviews with exploration and development managers representing six medium-to-large domestic and multinational energy companies operating on the Arctic frontiers of North America show that the principal barriers to development of proven gas reserves are social and environmental issues and a hostile regulatory regime.

Reports on Bill C-42 passed by the House of Commons of Canada, an act respecting the protection of the Antarctic Environment in June 2003. Ratification of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty or the Madrid Protocol, designating Antarctica as a natural reserve devoted to peace and science; Summary of the Act; Provisions of the legislation.

Comments on the incorporation of traditional knowledge called Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) in policy deliberations on environmental assessments. Criticisms of the GNWT policy by Frances Widdowson and Albert Howard; Definition of traditional knowledge by the GNWT policy; Other questions regarding the policy.