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International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

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436<br />

IPY 20 07–20 08<br />

polar communities and indigenous organizations,<br />

involving their own knowledge and observations of<br />

local processes and phenomena (see more in Chapter<br />

5.4). The scope of such efforts increased dramatically,<br />

in large part thanks to IPY <strong>2007–2008</strong>. It now includes<br />

the sustainable use of local resources, primarily in<br />

fisheries, exploitation of reindeer/caribou populations<br />

and environmental-friendly tourism; indigenous<br />

culture and language sustainability; increased<br />

resilience of local economies and social systems<br />

through co-management, self-governance and<br />

information exchange among local stakeholders; and<br />

interactions with the industrial development in the<br />

polar regions, including monitoring of environmental<br />

and social impacts, primarily in oil and gas, and other<br />

mineral exploitation (Allison et al., 2007).<br />

The extent to which this has been attempted and<br />

success attained is provided in the following sections<br />

of this chapter. It overviews a fraction of IPY 2007–<br />

2008 projects—eight in total—out of a much larger<br />

group of international and national initiatives during<br />

IPY years that included, what is increasingly referred<br />

to as, Community-Based Monitoring or CBM (see<br />

Gill and Barry (2008); Chapter 5.4) where researchers<br />

work with individual local experts or via communityrun<br />

observational networks. The overall number of<br />

known IPY projects that employed community-based<br />

monitoring is probably close to 20-25 (Hovelsrud and<br />

Fig. 3.10-1. Vehicle tracks<br />

across summer tundra<br />

near the oil terminal<br />

Varandey; driving on<br />

unfrozen ground leads<br />

to a rapid destruction of<br />

the tundra cover and is<br />

considered an unlawful<br />

activity in Russia, though<br />

rarely prosecuted.<br />

(Photo: Association of Nenets People<br />

Yasavey, September 2002)<br />

Krupnik, 2006). Though not every proposed initiative<br />

in that group eventually received funding and was<br />

implemented, many other local ventures during<br />

IPY years engaged indigenous observers and local<br />

communities in environmental, health and social<br />

monitoring efforts. 2 The impact of these activities<br />

will be fully understood as more project reports and<br />

publications become available.<br />

Project Overviews<br />

The eight international IPY projects reviewed in<br />

this chapter (no. 46, 157, 162, 166, 187, 247, 399, and<br />

408) submitted the most detailed accounts of their<br />

respective community-based monitoring efforts. The<br />

projects differed substantially in their geographic<br />

scope as well as in the number of communities and<br />

local experts involved, from truly circumpolar studies<br />

covering the entire Arctic region (no. 157, 162) or<br />

its major sections (no.166, 399) to regional (no. 46,<br />

247) and even community- or area-specific ventures<br />

(no. 187, 408). Four of the reviewed projects are<br />

focused on the land-based resources and processes:<br />

Traditional Indigenous Land Use Areas in the Nenets<br />

Autonomous Okrug (MODIL-NAO, no. 46), Circum-<br />

Arctic Rangifer Monitoring and Assessment Network<br />

(CARMA, no. 162), Reindeer Herders Vulnerability<br />

Network Study (EALÁT, no. 399), and Monitoring the

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