Inuit estimates of polar bear characteristics from tracks could complement ongoing capture-mark-recapture methods to frequently monitor polar bear populations in response to climate-induced habitat changes. Before the inclusion of these Inuit track estimates, they need to be evaluated for reliability and accuracy. Building on previous work, which showed increased reliability among active Inuit hunters, this thesis research reports i) reliability in estimates of sex, age, size, and age of track of a larger number of tracks by a larger number of Inuit hunters; ii) preliminary accuracy assessments of sex and size estimates; iii) semi-structured interviews with Inuit hunters regarding their polar bear tracking experience and techniques; and iv) potential relations between Inuit hunting experience and reliability and accuracy in diagnosing tracks. The Inuit hunters were reliable and consistent as a group in making estimates of sex (α=0.74 and mean corrected item-total correlation=0.45), age (α=0.81 and mean corrected item-total correlation=0.63), and size (α=0.91 and mean corrected item-total correlation=0.73), as well as age of track estimates with the exclusion of a single participant (α=0.85 and mean corrected item-total correlation=0.63). Preliminary accuracy assessments suggest Inuit hunters are generally accurate in their estimates of sex (mean 65.28% agreement with genetic sex estimates) and potentially size from tracks, warranting further efforts to determine accuracy in these estimates as well as age and age of track. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews with each hunter revealed they use similar tracking techniques, which may explain their high agreement in making estimates. In addition, Inuit tracking experience and the use of particular tracking methods may correlate with individual reliability and accuracy in track diagnoses. These results suggest the information that Inuit hunters provide may inform any tracking-based polar bear survey. / Thesis (Master, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2010-08-15 13:06:07.948

De par le monde, même dans ses territoires les plus reculés, et depuis des siècles parfois, des hommes et des femmes partagent et cultivent des ressources biologiques et des savoirs qu’ils utilisent pour pratiquer la médecine. Afin de pouvoir se développer, être valorisés ou simplement subsister, ces savoir-faire traditionnels en médecine ont besoin d’être protégés, notamment contre la biopiraterie et les brevets prédateurs. Dans cet objectif, afin de comprendre et d’expliciter le champ des possibilités, la présente étude envisage la protection de ces savoirs traditionnels sous divers angles juridiques qui dépassent généreusement les frontières nationales. À cette fin, elle entreprend de caractériser ce qu’est un savoir-faire traditionnel en médecine et d’en établir un portrait historique et législatif. Elle explore ensuite les possibilités protectrices et les écueils du droit de la propriété intellectuelle, mais aussi de nombreuses ouvertures juridiques existantes. Parmi celles-ci sont présentés des législations sui generis et les principaux accords internationaux, au rang desquels émergent la Convention sur la diversité biologique (CDB) et le Protocole de Nagoya, déclinés par quelques nations dans leur législation, de façon hétérogène. Pour parvenir à ses conclusions, cette recherche s’est appuyée sur un fil conducteur tendu entre deux pays emblématiques, la France et la Chine. / Throughout the world and even in remote territories, and for centuries, men and women grow and share biological resources as well as knowledge which they use to practice medicine. This traditional know-how in medicine need to be protected, in particular against biopiracy and predatory patents in order to be able to develop, be valued or merely exist. To that end, in order to understand and clarify the field of possibilities, this study considers the protection of this traditional knowledge from various legal perspectives which go beyond national borders. This study first undertakes to define what a traditional know-how in medicine is and to establish a historic and legal overview. Then, it explores the protective possibilities and the pitfalls of intellectual property laws as well as the numerous existing legal openings. Among these are presented sui generis legislations and major international agreements, to the rank of which emerge the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB) and the Nagoya Protocol, described in a heterogeneous way by several nations into their legislation. In order to achieve these conclusions, this research relied on a main thread stretched out between two iconic countries, France and China.

Au cours des dernières décennies, un certain nombre de brevets déposés sur des médicaments à base de plantes se sont vus dénoncés comme des cas de « biopiratage ». Ils sont en effet accusés de constituer une appropriation indue des connaissances de peuples autochtones sur les vertus thérapeutiques de plantes. Il est vrai qu'en droit positif, les produits phytopharmaceutiques peuvent répondre aux conditions légales de la brevetabilité, quand les savoirs médicinaux ne font l'objet d'aucun mécanisme de réservation. En réaction à ces pratiques prolifèrent donc des initiatives visant à définir les instruments juridiques qui permettraient de faire bénéficier les peuples autochtones des fruits de l'exploitation de leurs connaissances. Le droit international s'est ainsi récemment enrichi d'accords visant à la protection des savoirs traditionnels, parmi lesquels la Convention sur la Diversité Biologique de 1992, prolongée par le Protocole de Nagoya en octobre 2010. Les principes posés doivent cependant être traduits en des règles concrètes pour être mis en œuvre. C'est pourquoi, à différents niveaux, les acteurs proposent voire développent leurs propres instruments pour tenter d'apporter une réponse au problème du biopiratage, à la fois dans et en dehors du système de protection de la propriété intellectuelle. Ce sont les modalités d'introduction de ces différents mécanismes en droit positif qu'il s'agit ici d'étudier. Pour ce faire, l'analyse économique du droit est convoquée pour évaluer les tenants et les aboutissants de réformes qui, pour se trouver à la frontière entre les droits de la propriété intellectuelle, de l'environnement, du développement et du commerce international, soulèvent des questions juridiques imprégnées de considérations éthiques, politiques et économiques. / Over the past decades, several patents granted for plant-based medicine have been denounced as “biopiracy” based on the assertion that they misappropriated indigenous people's knowledge over plants' therapeutic properties. Indeed, in the current state of law, while the pharmaceuticals may be the subject of patent law, medicinal knowledge is not the subject of any proprietary regime. Therefore, many initiatives have been suggested that aim at defining the appropriate legal instruments to ensure that a sharing of the benefits is imposed on pharmaceutical companies when utilising medicinal knowledge. The principle that the traditional knowledge associated with medicinal plants requires legal protection has already found expression in a number of political outputs, including such major international agreements as the “Convention on Biological Diversity” signed in 1992. This has been further developed with the Nagoya Protocol adopted in October 2010. However, the principles in these conventions still need to be translated into a concrete legal framework to be fully enforceable. This is why it is equally important to study legal practice to see how various actors can explore ways of dealing with the biopiracy issue, both within and outside the existing intellectual property system. This study assesses the legal accuracy of these posited options at the intersection of intellectual property, environmental, development and international trade laws. It uses an economic analysis of law to evaluate the background and the outcomes of reforms that raise not only legal, but also economic, political, and ethical burning issues.

The Mackenzie River Delta is an ecologically rich freshwater environment in Canada’s Northwest Territories. It is vulnerable to multiple stressors such as climate change, resource development activities (oil and natural gas) and upstream-downstream linkages related to extraction activities in the southern part of the Mackenzie River watershed. Resultant socio-ecological impacts affect fishing livelihoods, which represent a significant component of the country food system and ways of life for Inuvialuit (Inuit of the Western Arctic), whose Settlement Area overlaps with the Delta. This thesis analyzes the implications of socio-ecological changes in the Mackenzie River Delta for Inuvialuit fishing livelihoods and the country food system, drawing from Local and Traditional Knowledge. In collaboration with the Fisheries Joint Management Committee in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, the westernmost Inuit region in Canada, I undertook a participatory-qualitative research, while also drawing on relevant literature and complementary data. Using 28 semi-structured interviews about changes in the Mackenzie River Delta and the importance of fishing livelihoods, results indicated that fishing livelihoods are essential contributors to the Inuvialuit food system, as well as cultural practices surrounding fishing as an activity. Moreover, some results imply the importance of previously ignored species for food security, such as burbot and inconnu, which receive limited attention in other studies. Key findings also indicate that multiple environmental changes are occurring in the Delta, including lower water levels, increasing land erosion, decreasing fish populations, and changes in Delta-reliant wildlife populations (e.g. more beavers), warmer water temperatures, poorer fish quality (e.g. softer flesh, parasites), thinner ice, climate variability, and an escalating cost of living. These changes affect primarily fishing access and raise important concerns about the safety of fish consumption for human health. Ultimately, limited access and declining fish quality have a negative impact on food security, given the key role of fish in the country food system and the importance of socio-cultural dimensions such as fishing knowledge and skills, and sharing practices.

This study used qualitative (interviews) and quantitative methods (questionnaires) to investigate and describe (a) Papua New Guinea (PNG) village elders' traditional ideas and beliefs on natural phenomena, (b) PNG secondary school student's traditional science beliefs, (c) the sources of PNG secondary school students' explanations of natural phenomena, (d) the types of explanations PNG secondary school students provide to describe natural phenomena, and the views of science teachers and curriculum officers on the inclusion of traditional knowledge in the science curriculum.. Analysis of data included interviews with eight village elders and completed questionnaires from approximately 200 secondary school students in one rural provincial high school in the Gulf Province. Village elders' beliefs were analysed and categorised into (a) spirits, magic spells and sorcery, (b) Christianity, (c) personal experience, and (d) modern science. Secondary school students' sources of explanations were based on what they have heard at (a) home, (b) in the family and village, (c) in church and (d) from school. Approximately half of the secondary school students strongly hold on to traditional beliefs while learning formal school science and these were related to spirits, magic spells and sorcery that were similar to those of the village elders. Students also used scientific explanations of natural phenomena based on their learning in school and from their own personal experiences and interactions with the physical world. / Interviews with science teachers and curriculum officers supported the need to include traditional knowledge in the science curricula. The study identified students holding both traditional and scientific explanations of natural phenomena. There is both a need and value for traditional knowledge being incorporated in science education programs that harmonise with school science. The thesis concludes with six recommendations to bring these ideas to fruition.

Much of the maternal health care literature on Aboriginal women is biomedical in its focus, covering topics such as gestational diabetes, abnormal birth weight, and infant morality. There has also been some exploration of First Nations womens relationships with health professionals. There is a dearth of literature that addresses First Nations womens choices, experiences, knowledges (traditional and medical), attitudes, beliefs and values surrounding their pregnancies and prenatal health care. This qualitative study conducted by a Mikmaw woman explores Mikmaw womens perceptions of their maternal health, the relationships that support or serve Mikmaw women during their pregnancy, birthing, and postpartum delivery in two First Nations communities in Nova Scotia. The stories of fourteen Mikmaw female participants, ranging from young women to Elders, were explored using a narrative inquiry approach that is consistent with First Nations oral traditions of storytelling. Stories were told in a focus group and individual interviews. Data collection, analysis, and interpretation was guided by an Indigenous framework of two superimposed medicine wheels: (1) holistic model of health (mental, physical, emotional and spiritual), and; (2) maternal health life cycle (becoming a woman, teachings during pregnancy, experiences during birth, motherhood and the fourth trimester: after birthing). This study found that the colonization of birthing has significantly impacted Mikmaw maternal health experiences, and is characterized by a tension between western medical knowledge and Mikmaq traditional knowledge systems that plays out very strongly during this critical period in the life of a woman and her child. In addition, recognition of the socio-cultural context of Mikmaq women is critical to understanding their decision making in regards to maternal health. The results suggest there is a need to create culturally sensitive models of maternal health that incorporate First Nations traditional knowledge of maternity and Western medical knowledge.

Much of the maternal health care literature on Aboriginal women is biomedical in its focus, covering topics such as gestational diabetes, abnormal birth weight, and infant morality. There has also been some exploration of First Nations womens relationships with health professionals. There is a dearth of literature that addresses First Nations womens choices, experiences, knowledges (traditional and medical), attitudes, beliefs and values surrounding their pregnancies and prenatal health care. This qualitative study conducted by a Mikmaw woman explores Mikmaw womens perceptions of their maternal health, the relationships that support or serve Mikmaw women during their pregnancy, birthing, and postpartum delivery in two First Nations communities in Nova Scotia. The stories of fourteen Mikmaw female participants, ranging from young women to Elders, were explored using a narrative inquiry approach that is consistent with First Nations oral traditions of storytelling. Stories were told in a focus group and individual interviews. Data collection, analysis, and interpretation was guided by an Indigenous framework of two superimposed medicine wheels: (1) holistic model of health (mental, physical, emotional and spiritual), and; (2) maternal health life cycle (becoming a woman, teachings during pregnancy, experiences during birth, motherhood and the fourth trimester: after birthing). This study found that the colonization of birthing has significantly impacted Mikmaw maternal health experiences, and is characterized by a tension between western medical knowledge and Mikmaq traditional knowledge systems that plays out very strongly during this critical period in the life of a woman and her child. In addition, recognition of the socio-cultural context of Mikmaq women is critical to understanding their decision making in regards to maternal health. The results suggest there is a need to create culturally sensitive models of maternal health that incorporate First Nations traditional knowledge of maternity and Western medical knowledge.

Meteorologists working for the state government in Ceara, Northeast Brazil claim that the kinds of forecasts they can currently produce are not useful for subsistence farmers, who lack resources to act on forecast-based decisions. I argue that scientific predictions do have meaning and consequences in rural communities. Official forecasts inform policies that affect farmers; therefore, farmers hold government accountable for predictions, even if they do not directly influence the farmers' own decision-making.My investigation takes the discussion beyond notions of "usefulness" as I demonstrate that prediction is more than a projection of the future based on the past and the present. In prediction discourse, people create understandings of their place in the social world, including their relationship to government. While government discourse constructs farmers as "non-users" and removes its responsibility to them, traditional "rain prophets" motivate farmers with optimistically-framed predictions and encourage autonomy from government.Prediction is a meaning-making endeavor―not just of ecological and atmospheric processes, but of who people are and how they live. Drawing on linguistic theories of performance and performativity, I analyze strategic language use within a cultural models framework, taking into account the emotions and motivations associated with experiences of living in a particular environment (both natural and material), and how these are crucial to understanding the meanings of prediction. Through prediction, people test the limits of their knowledge, judgement and faith. My examination of the connections between cultural models of 'prediction' and 'lie' explains how traditional predictions motivate farmers and build solidarity in opposition to exclusionary systems of government and science.This research furthers our understanding of how locally marginalized groups engage with government and the knowledge systems it privileges. After tracing constructions of "rain prophet" and "scientist" in the media, I show how rain prophets both oppose themselves to and align themselves with media representations of science, as they establish their authority and challenge meteorologists' expertise. Meanwhile, meteorologists work to authenticate science as the only legitimate authority. Thus, in prediction performances, meteorologists and rain prophets position themselves within local and global discourses about science and traditional knowledge.

This dissertation aims to analyze the logic of survival of fishermen from Mem de Sa community Itaporanga D´Ajuda/SE, in the perspective of social and environmental sustainability. The study setting is the community Mem de Sá situated in a river island in the estuary of Vaza-Barris river, (11°29´26´´S and 06´46´´W), located in Itaporanga D´Ajuda, only 26 km away from the seat of the municipality and 53 km from Aracaju, capital of Sergipe state. The specific objectives of the study are: to build sustainability indicators that enable the verification of the possibilities and limitations of fishing activity, to characterize the importance of the environment on the composition of the territory and on the carried fishing practices, to identify the knowledge, rituals and myths surrounded the community and, to perform the monitoring of the fishing community. The main question that the chapters try to answer is: how the logic of survival of fishermen is configured and what is the interference of environmental, social, cultural, political and economic factors on the activities developed in the fishing community in Mem de Sá Itaporanga D´Ajuda/SE. The first chapter describes the research scenario. The second chapter presents the theoretical framework. The third chapter focuses on social and environmental dynamics based on sustainability indicators of social and environmental dimension. In the fourth chapter are included the analysis of political and economic indicator. The fifth chapter covers the cultural/spiritual sustainability indicator. And finally, the sixth chapter expresses the intention to understand the logic of life of fishermen, caught in its essence and understood by its own light. Therefore, the proposed research is inseparable from traditional knowledge originated from relation webs of community Mem de Sá, whether with members of its internal or external community or with environment of their experience, however, social and environmental sustainability being promoted or even limited according to the way of life built. / Esta dissertação tem por objetivo analisar a lógica de sobrevivência dos pescadores artesanais da comunidade Mem de Sá - Itaporanga D Ajuda/Se, na perspectiva da sustentabilidade socioambiental. O cenário do estudo é a comunidade Mem de Sá situada em uma ilha fluvial no estuário do rio Vaza-Barris, (11º29 26 S e 06 46 W), localizada em Itaporanga D Ajuda, distante apenas 23 km da sede municipal e a 53 km de Aracaju, capital do Estado de Sergipe. Os objetivos específicos do estudo são: construir indicadores de sustentabilidade que possibilitem a verificação das possibilidades e limitações da atividade pesqueira; caracterizar a importância do ambiente na composição do território e nas práticas pesqueiras realizadas; identificar os saberes, rituais e mitos envoltos na comunidade, e, realizar o monitoramento da comunidade pesqueira. A questão norteadora que os capítulos tentam responder é: como se configura a lógica de sobrevivência dos pescadores artesanais e quais são as interferências de fatores ambientais, sociais, culturais, políticos e econômicos na atividade pesqueira desenvolvida na comunidade Mem de Sá - Itaporanga D Ajuda/Se? O primeiro capítulo descreve o cenário da pesquisa. O segundo capítulo apresenta o referencial teórico. O terceiro capítulo centra-se na dinâmica socioambiental com base nos indicadores de sustentabilidade da dimensão social e ambiental. No quarto capítulo estão inseridas as análises do indicador econômico e político. O quinto capítulo abarca a dimensão cultural/espiritual dos indicadores de sustentabilidade. E por fim, o sexto capítulo expressa a intenção de entender a lógica de vida dos pescadores artesanais capturada em sua essência e compreendida pela sua própria luz. Portanto, a pesquisa proposta é indissociável do conhecimento tradicional emanado das teias de relações da comunidade Mem de Sá, seja com os membros de sua coletividade interna e externa seja com o ambiente de sua vivência, contudo, sendo a sustentabilidade socioambiental favorecida ou até mesmo limitada de acordo com o modo de vida construído.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The restinga ecosystem has been one of the most impacted in Brazil due to its coastal location, where the housing boom and Unregulated tourism are the main factors degrading. The northern coast of Sergipe is included in this reality, mainly due to the unique beauty of the region. Attempts to conserve species has been scarce and recent, still requiring more structure to the units of local conservation. In order to meet both the conservation of natural resources on improving socioeconomic conditions in the region was created in the municipality of Pirambu, a rural settlement land reform mode agroextractive: Assentamento Agroextrativista São Sebastião. The settlement covers 28 families, who were residents of nearby land currently regulated, and which have as their main economic activities in the extraction of mangaba (Harconia speciosa L.), handicrafts from the straw ouricurizeiro (Siagrus coronata Beccari Matius) and family farming. The objective of this study was to investigate how does the relationship between man and the environment botanist, with the methods and techniques employed by the ethnobotany, in order to raise possible discussions about the sustainability of these resources in the settlement. For better understanding and organization of data, this study is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 presents a brief review of the main authors and themes related to the research , as well as a characterization of the study area, based on available literature and data obtained in the field. Chapter 2 it is a collection of botanical species considered useful by the residents. In this, we performed a general characterization of the study area, based on socioeconomic information provided by residents, associated with the listing of all known species useful. The 106 species listed were grouped into seven categories of use, and some were inserted in more than one category, namely: Food (43), Medical (46), Fuel (22), Craft (3), Mystic-religious (10), Ornamental (6) and Other (5). The species were classified according to their use and value to the category Fuel, we applied the technique of Rapid Spatial Insider. Chapter 3 was a specific study of the homegardens of the town. Twenty-five homegardens have been visited and all species with diameter at ground level were recorded ≥ 3, and computed their heights, canopy and location in space in the homegarden. Was investigated the importance of the yard to keep the family through semi-structured, and the division of labor and management techniques employed. Chapter 4 was a study with the objective of understanding the relation between the children of school-age settlement compatible to the elementary school and the local environment. We used a triangulation of methods to achieve the desired responses: making individual drawings, map-making and collective application of semi-structured interviews. Data from several studies point to a wealth of local biodiversity yet little explored, as opposed to certain species that may be under pressure to use, thus concluding the need for further multidisciplinary studies that value local knowledge in building strategies for sustainable development in the settlement that the name itself shows the proposal to use natural resources rationally, socioeconomic and environmental justice. / O ecossistema de restinga tem sido um dos mais impactados no Brasil devido à sua localização litorânea, onde a expansão imobiliária e o turismo desordenado são os principais fatores degradantes. O litoral norte do estado de Sergipe se inclui nessa realidade, principalmente devido às belezas singulares da região. Tentativas de conservação das espécies têm sido escassas e recentes, ainda necessitando de maior estrutura para as unidades de conservação locais. Com o intuito de atender tanto à conservação dos recursos naturais quanto à melhoria socioeconômica da população foi criado na região, no município de Pirambu, um assentamento rural de reforma agrária de modalidade agroextrativista: o Assentamento Agroextrativista São Sebastião. O assentamento abrange 28 famílias, que já eram residentes das proximidades da terra atualmente regularizada, e que têm como principais atividades econômicas o extrativismo da mangaba (Harconia speciosa L.), o artesanato a partir da palha do ouricurizeiro (Siagrus coronata Matius Beccari) e a agricultura familiar. O objetivo geral deste estudo foi investigar como se dá a relação entre as pessoas e o meio ambiente botânico, através dos métodos e técnicas empregados pela etnobotânica, com o fim de suscitar possíveis discussões acerca da sustentabilidade destes recursos no assentamento. Para melhor compreensão e organização dos dados, este estudo encontra-se dividido em quatro capítulos. O capítulo 1 traz uma breve revisão dos principais autores e temas relacionados à pesquisa, bem como uma caracterização da área de estudo, com base na literatura disponível e em dados obtidos em campo. O capítulo 2 trata-se de um levantamento de espécies botânicas consideradas úteis pelos moradores. As 106 espécies identificadas foram enquadradas em sete categorias de uso, e algumas se inseriram em mais de uma categoria, a saber: Alimentícia (43), Medicinal (46), Combustível (22), Artesanal (3), Místico-religiosa (10), Ornamental (6) Outros (5). As espécies foram classificadas quanto ao seu Valor de Uso e, para a categoria Combustível, foi realizada a técnica do Ordenamento Rápido do Informante. O capítulo 3 foi um estudo específico do uso dos quintais da localidade. Vinte e cinco quintais foram visitados e todas as espécies com diâmetro a nível do solo ≥ 3 foram registradas, e computadas as respectivas alturas, copa e localização espacial no quintal. Foi averiguada a importância do quintal para o sustento familiar através de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, bem como a divisão de trabalho e as técnicas de manejo empregadas. O capítulo 4 foi um estudo realizado com o objetivo de conhecer a percepção das crianças do assentamento, em idade escolar compatível ao Ensino Fundamental, do meio ambiente local. Foi utilizada uma triangulação de métodos para se chegar às respostas desejadas, a saber: confecção de desenhos individuais, confecção de mapas coletivos e aplicação de entrevistas semi-estruturadas. Os dados obtidos nos diversos estudos apontam para uma riqueza de biodiversidade local ainda pouco explorada, em oposição a determinadas espécies que podem estar sofrendo pressão de uso, deste modo, concluindo pela necessidade de novos estudos multidisciplinares que valorizem o conhecimento local na construção de estratégias para o desenvolvimento sustentável no assentamento, que no próprio nome evidencia a proposta de se utilizar dos recursos naturais de maneira racional, socioeconômica e ambientalmente justa.