Interdisciplinary Partnership to Examine Socio-Cultural Dimensions Involved in Caribou Conservation
Conservation is an incredible complex undertaking. How does one weigh the costs and benefits of conserving an at-risk species with the potential impact the conservation will have on their human and animal neighbours?
Although researchers may know what needs to happen to protect an at-risk species, the approach may be at odds with other economic or ethical considerations. Habitat that needs to be preserved may also be in high demand for development or resource extraction. Additionally, some may question whether it is ethical to reduce a predator population, in effect harming members of one species to save another.
To better understand the complex factors involved in species conservation, researchers across Canada are forming a diverse and interdisciplinary partnership to look at caribou conservation. Dr. Thomas (Tad) McIlwraith, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph and his team led by principal investigator Dr. Adam Ford, Associate Professor of Biology at The University of British Columbia (UBC) Okanagan, brings together expertise in the biological, social, cultural, and political dimensions of this challenge. Other partners and collaborators on this project include the Canadian Forest Service, UBC Zoology, UBC Kinesiology, the University of Alberta, Splatsin Nation, and Cold Lake First Nation.
The project “Is Conservation Always Ethical? The Socio-Cultural Dimensions of Woodland Caribou conservation in Western Canada” aims to tackle one of North America’s greatest terrestrial conservation challenges. The unique challenge of caribou conservation is that caribou live in low density across an incredibly large territory, and this territory also happens to be where highly-valued natural resources are located. To date, caribou conservation has been studied from ecological and biological perspectives, but no social science research about peoples’ support or opposition to the conservation efforts has been conducted.
To complete this innovative work, the team has received an SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, designed to foster new partnerships or design and test new partnership approaches that can result in best practices or models.
“The intricate nature of this work is that no one entity can do it alone, and no one discipline can offer the necessary perspective,” said McIlwraith. “That’s why we’re bringing together all these partners and collaborators, to bring their unique expertise and tackle the challenge from different angles. The project’s relationship with First Nations is also key, as Indigenous peoples have led one of the only successful conservation efforts for caribou.”
Partnering closely with the Splatsin community in British Columbia and the Cold Lake First Nation in Alberta, the researchers will incorporate these communities’ perspectives on how caribou should be managed on their lands. This collaboration will build on the previous relationships research team members have built with the Nations in order to co-design research and co-produce knowledge in respectful and reciprocal ways.
Ultimately, this project hopes to determine the thresholds of support or opposition for future and existing species at risk recovery efforts in complex, cross-cultural settings in Alberta and BC. Following the research, the team plans to lead an extensive knowledge mobilization process using flexible outputs in each Nation, academic and non-academic reports and presentations, and policy activity.