OOS 29
Resilience to Climate Change Using Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western Science

Tuesday, August 11, 2015: 1:30 PM-5:00 PM
327, Baltimore Convention Center
Organizer:
Susan Hummel
Co-organizer:
Michelle L. Stevens
Moderator:
Jesse Ford
Indigenous cultures that persist have demonstrated their resilience to environmental changes over millennia. Lessons about resilience from indigenous peoples thus offer insight as we develop approaches for understanding and adapting to climate change. Indigenous resilience has often been associated with (a) a deep knowledge of, and respect for, ecological systems, (b) recognition of the relationship between ecological and human well-being, (c) flexibility in the use of natural resources, and (d) institutional mechanisms that are responsive to variability in ecological and human systems. In the present session, these attributes are explored as they relate to the four constituents of ancient cosmologies— air, earth, fire, and water—and integrated with western scientific knowledge systems. In whole, the session seeks to identify lessons about resilience for land management that can be learned from traditional ecological knowledge and scientific research.
1:50 PM
Navajo tribal elder observations of climate change impacts: Validating local knowledge and informing adaptation
Margaret Hiza Redsteer, US Geological Survey; Klara B. Kelley, Navajo Nation; Harris Francis, Navajo Nation
2:30 PM
Changes in our story: Traditional and Western discussions of change and how it affects subsistence gathering for the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe
Gail Woodside, Oregon State University; Lisa Lone Fight, Montana State University; Cathleen Rose, Oregon State University; Darrin Sharp, Oregon State Univeristy; Jesse Ford, Oregon State University
2:50 PM
A history of the forest, Flathead Indian Reservation, Montana
Laurel James, University of Washington
3:10 PM
3:20 PM
Every precious drop: Traditional management of wetlands, wadis, and water
Michelle L. Stevens, California State University
3:40 PM
What neuroplasticity means for ecology
Susan Hummel, USDA Forest Service
4:00 PM
How principles of indigenous economics support resilience
Ronald L. Trosper, University of Arizona