Description

8. CIRCUMPOLAR ACTION PLAN

SUMMARY

8.8 ITEK: Inclusion of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK) in the Polar Bear Range States as part of the ITEK working group

Ruth Milkereit

This presentation reviews the progress made by the PBRS to support the “Inclusion of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK) in the Polar Bear Range States as part of the ITEK working group.”

The ITEK WG advanced three actions during the CAP2023-2025 implementation period: ITEK-1 “maintain a compendium and schedule of ITEK studies”, ITEK-2 “Complete a review and analysis to identify potential approaches to enhance implementation of PBRS commitments to inclusion of ITEK and participation of Indigenous peoples and provide recommendations to the HoDs” and ITEK-3 “Prepare an ITEK knowledge synthesis on recent ITEK research.”

The presentation highlights that the completion of all three ITEK initiatives (1, 2 and 3) has advanced the PBRS goal of recognizing “the importance and value of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in informing management decisions and the need for the range states to develop a common understanding of what constitutes Traditional Ecological Knowledge and how it should be used in polar bear management decisions.”  It outlines the WG’s findings that WG’s concrete recommendations and approaches to enhance implementation of PBRS commitments to inclusion of ITEK and participation of Indigenous Peoples under the 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears should be considered by the PBRS while examining any approach to extending Range States collaborative efforts beyond the 2015-2025 Circumpolar Action Plan (e.g. future Range States work).