EDUCATION MODULE

Caribou
Co-Management

Changing Approaches to Natural Resource Management

In this module, you will learn about wildlife co-management and its application to the conservation and management of migratory caribou in the Canadian North. Material will be presented to build your knowledge of human interaction with caribou. Topics will include caribou, caribou migration, co-management, and different forms of knowledge about caribou such as traditional ecological knowledge and ecological and biological science.

You will explore a case study drawn from an actual co-management board scenario in the Canadian North. In the class activity, you and other students will assess the challenges inherent to co-management as you work to make recommendations to a co-management board about how to resolve problems presented in the scenario.

Together we will learn about the challenges associated with the co-management of migratory caribou in a rapidly changing North.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Learn about the co-management of caribou in the Canadian North;
• Gain an understanding of how Indigenous peoples, scientists, and wildlife managers use different knowledge systems to contribute to wildlife co-management decision making;
• Identify the role of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in caribou co-management, while also learning about the challenges of translating Indigenous knowledge into TEK;
• Learn about the challenges associated with co-managing migratory caribou in the context of a changing climate;
• Discuss how issues of wildlife co-management and climate change affect other aspects of life in the North.