The political ecology of local environmental narratives: power, knowledge, and mountain caribou conservation

R Bixler

doi:10.2458/v20i1.21749

Abstract

Political ecology seeks to address notable weaknesses in the social sciences that consider how human society and the environment shape each other over time. Considering questions of ideology and scientific discourse, power and knowledge, and issues of conservation and environmental history, political ecology offers an alternative to technocratic approaches to policy prescriptions and environmental assessment. Integrating these insights into the science-policy interface is crucial for discerning and articulating the role of local resource users in environmental conservation. This paper applies political ecology to addresses a gap in the literature that exists at the interface of narratives of local environmental change and local ecological knowledge and doing so builds a nuanced critique of the rationality of local ecological knowledge. The ways that we view nature and generate, interpret, communicate, and understand the "science" of environmental problems is deeply embedded in particular economic, political, and ecological contexts. In interior British Columbia, Canada, these dynamics unfold in one of the most rigorously documented examples of the negative effect of anthropogenic disturbance on an endangered species – declining mountain caribou population. Science notwithstanding, resource users tell narratives of population decline that clearly reflect historical regularities deeply embedded in particular economic, political, and ideological constructions situated in local practices. This research assesses these narratives, discusses the implications, and explores pathways for integrating local knowledge and narratives into conservation science and policy. A more informed understanding of the subjectivities and rationalities of local knowledges can and should inform conservation science and policy.Keywords: Political ecology, local ecological knowledge, narrative, environmental change, environmental management, British Columbia, Rangifer tarandus caribou.

Highlights

The decline of the arboreal lichen feeding ecotype of woodland caribou known scientifically as Rangifer tarandus caribou in southeastern British Columbia is one of the most rigorously documented examples of the negative effect of anthropogenic disturbances on the dynamics of an endangered species (Wittmer et al 2010; Siep 2008; Siep et al 2007; Apps and McLellan 2006; Kotai 2006)
Available data have been used to develop a mechanistic understanding of the ultimate causes of observed population decline and there is broad consensus among most researchers that the decline of mountain caribou is due to unsustainable predation in the form of apparent competition (Wittmer et al 2005; Wittmer et al 2007; Festa-Bianchet et al 2011)
Implementation of mountain caribou conservation strategic action plans is dependent on the cooperation of local stakeholders that are embedded in the landscape and have competing political and economic interests

Summary

Introduction

The decline of the arboreal lichen feeding ecotype of woodland caribou known scientifically as Rangifer tarandus caribou (hereafter referred to as mountain caribou) in southeastern British Columbia is one of the most rigorously documented examples of the negative effect of anthropogenic disturbances on the dynamics of an endangered species (Wittmer et al 2010; Siep 2008; Siep et al 2007; Apps and McLellan 2006; Kotai 2006). The focus on narratives of caribou decline and their implicit solutions provides an interesting critique of the science-policy interface and problematizes the way that these intimate local views could be reconciled into conservation action and practice. Local ecological knowledge refers to the local expertise of people who, different from indigenous peoples, may not have a long-term relationship (i.e. hundreds or thousands of years) with the local environment, but have local wisdom, experience, and practices adapted to local ecosystems (Ballard et al 2008) This knowledge is held by users of a resource system and is informal, lay, personal and often implicit or tacit, and can often be considered expert (Raymond et al 2010; Carolan 2006). A more nuanced understanding is warranted of local environmental narratives, local ecological knowledge, and political ecology at the interface of conservation science and policy (Vaccaro et al 2013)

Method and analytical approach

Results: framing mountain caribou decline

Discussion: narratives as knowledge and political ecology

Conclusion: environmental narratives as local ecological knowledge