Henry P. Huntington’s research while affiliated with The Huntington and other places
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Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens, Illiger 1815) have long been vital to Indigenous communities along Alaska’s west coast. Although current harvest rates are sustainable, climate change and increased industrial activity in the range of this species pose threats to the population and to hunting safety and success. To gather information relevant to addressing these concerns, the Eskimo Walrus Commission and the US Fish and Wildlife Service held a workshop in August 2023 in Nome, Alaska, with experienced Yupik walrus hunters from the communities of Gambell and Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska and Federal walrus biologists. The three-day event documented extensive information about walrus biology and behavior, which was used to improve a walrus population model. Workshop discussions also addressed concepts of sustainability and the future of walrus hunting. The workshop benefitted from prior collaboration between the biologists and some of the hunters on a walrus research cruise in the Chukchi Sea earlier the same summer, creating a foundation of common experience and interpersonal relationships. In the longer term, the workshop helped demonstrate the value of equitable collaboration towards shared goals, in part by allowing for open conversations rather than, for example, an extended question-and-answer session regarding model parameters.
Traditional and local knowledge (TLK) can be instrumental in mitigating the risks of disasters. There are calls to
prioritize such knowledge to promote community resilience against disasters. This study examines the integration
of TLK into disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies in Nepal, India and Bangladesh using a qualitative content
analysis. We evaluated the level of integration in three components: policy priority, policy governance, and
policy integration. Policy priority included five criteria and showed that India has better integrated TLK into
national policies, followed by Nepal, and Bangladesh. None of the countries met our criteria for policy governance.
Nepal and India emphasize community-based disaster management, combining traditional knowledge
with modern technologies. However, policies are silent about the pathways of such integration, the governance
mechanisms have no provision for community participation, nor are any integration tools proposed to promote
such practices. Overall, the DRR policies have acknowledged the need to engage with TLK, but much more work
is needed to prioritize TLK integration, which requires integration tools (e.g., legal, economic and institutional)
and resources.
The Arctic is home to several groups of Indigenous Peoples, each with distinct ways of interacting with their environment and ways of life. Arctic, Indigenous Peoples’ food sovereignty is tightly linked with food security. Subsistence harvesting activities provide nutritious and culturally vital foods for Alaska Native households and communities. Climate change is causing rapid and more unpredictable shifts in environmental conditions that impact three of the key aspects of food security, availability, stability, and accessibility. While communities monitor the abundance and health of food webs and environments as part of subsistence harvest practices, anticipating major transformations and changes in these systems is challenging. We explored the potential of Earth System Model output in helping anticipate or project physical or ecosystem changes relevant to Alaska Indigenous peoples’ food security needs. Through examples of model products, that provide measures of accessibility and availability of marine resources, we show that modern models, such as the Energy Exascale Earth System Model presented here, can provide estimates of a broad suite of variables relevant to food security. We investigate how Earth System Model output could contribute to exploring questions related to aspects of Arctic food security such as accessibility and availability and highlight present model shortcomings that, if addressed, would move Earth System Models closer to being a useful tool for understanding environmentally driven changes to the availability and accessibility of harvestable food resources. Our example model-derived food security indicators illustrate how Earth System Model output could be combined with relevant, non-model, information sources; These model products are meant only as a starting point and a tool for engaging community members and to present, in an accessible way, the model’s potential utility, or current lack thereof, to rights holders and stakeholders concerned about food security. We are hopeful that with example products in hand, additional model development efforts will have a higher likelihood of success in achieving an iterative discussion with stakeholders regarding feasible and desired products.
While Indigenous Knowledge (IK) contains a wealth of information on the behaviour and habitat use of species, it is rarely included in the species-habitat models frequently used by ‘Western’ species management authorities. As decisions from these authorities can limit access to species that are important culturally and for subsistence, exclusion of IK in conservation and management frameworks can negatively impact both species and Indigenous communities. In partnership with Iñupiat hunters, we developed methods to statistically characterize IK of species-habitat relationships and developed models that rely solely on IK to identify species habitat use and important areas. We provide methods for different types of IK documentation and for dynamic habitat types (e.g., ice concentration). We apply the method to ringed seals (natchiq in Iñupiaq) in Alaskan waters, a stock for which the designated critical habitat has been debated in part due to minimal inclusion of IK. Our work demonstrates how IK of species-habitat relationships, with the inclusion of dynamic habitat types, expands on existing mapping approaches and provides another method to identify species habitat use and important areas. The results of this work provide a straightforward and meaningful approach to include IK in species management, especially through co-management processes.
“Agencies have a traditional way they do science and including Indigenous Knowledge is less traditional.” - Taqulik Hepa, subsistence hunter and Director, North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management
Statement of Positionality
This study and the conversion and application of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) for habitat use models was initiated through discussions with the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management (DWM). The DWM is an agency of the regional municipal government representing eight primarily Iñupiat subsistence communities in Northern Alaska. One of the goals of the DWM is to “assure participation by Borough residents in the management of wildlife and fish… so that residents can continue to practice traditional methods of subsistence harvest of wildlife resources in perpetuity” (1). Additionally, this project was presented to the Ice Seal Committee (ISC) for review, input, and approval. The ISC is an Alaskan Native organization with representatives from five regions that cover ice-associated seal ranges and “was established to help preserve and enhance ice seal habitat; protect and enhance Alaska Native culture, traditions-particularly activities associated with the subsistence use of ice seals” (2). Both the DWM and the ISC have mandates to manage ice-associated seals considering both IK and ‘Western’ scientific knowledge (1, 2), and this study was developed to meet those mandates. Iñupiat hunters from Utqiaġvik, Alaska (Figure 1) were collaborators on this project, five of whom are co-authors (B. Adams, B. Frantz, J. Gatten, Q. Harcharek, and R. Sarren), while the other hunter chose to remain anonymous for this publication. The other authors are not Indigenous: R. Gryba was a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia, M. Auger-Méthé and G. Henry are professors at the University of British Columbia, A. Von Duyke is a researcher at the DWM, and H. Huntington is an independent social scientist.
Significance Statement
Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is an extensive source of information of species habitat use and behavior, but is still rarely included in statistical methods used for species conservation and management. Because current conservation practices are frequently still rooted in ‘Western’ practices many Indigenous organizations are looking for ways for IK to be better included and considered. We worked with Iñupiat hunters to develop a new statistical approach to characterize IK and use it as a sole data source in habitat models. This work expands on mapping approaches, that are valuable, but cannot be applied to dynamic habitat types (e.g., ice concentration). This work shows how IK can be meaningfully included in modelling and be considered in current approaches for species management.
... The updated policies on "River and Water-Induced Disaster Management" and "National Irrigation Policy" [63] in Nepal emphasize equitable water distribution, flood mitigation through nature-based solutions, and the active participation of marginalized groups. However, like previous policies [64,65], they fall short of recognizing farming ecosystems (paddy farmland and water resources) as key green infrastructure [58,59] for sustainable and cost-effective flood management solutions, instead focusing on more immediate, rehabilitation-driven responses. Indigenous knowledge and local practices are acknowledged but treated as supplementary, not integral, limiting their impact. ...
... One of the most common methods to observe icebergs is using ship-based instruments. Although they can provide accurate data, their operational use is limited by safety reasons, high operational costs, weather dependency and environmental impact [3], [4]. On the other hand, remotely sensed satellite and aerial imagery offer more comprehensive monitoring capabilities without limitations and risks associated with ship-and cruise-based observations [5]. ...
... Young [1] notes: "A striking feature of this development is the strengthening of linkages between the Arctic and the outside world". As we head towards those futures, Huntington [2] points out that: "The current path is one of incremental and reactive compromise, which leads not to sustainability, but to an inevitable decline". He proposes instead that " . . . ...
... Over time, there has been a growing recognition within the conservation community, from academics to practitioners, of the importance of including local communities in conservation efforts (Brondizio andle Torneau 2016 , Fromentin et al. 2022 ). This shift in perspective has been driven by several factors, including a greater awareness of the social justice implications of conservation actions (Bennett et al. 2020 ), and the recognition of the value of local ecological knowledge (LEK) in achieving conservation goals (Silvano et al. 2022 ). The adoption of inclusive approaches has been shown to not only potentially improve the effectiveness of conservation efforts, but also to enhance life quality, social equity, and promote sustainable development (Oldekop et al., 2016 , 2 Lopes et al. ...
... Learning from and collaborating with local and indigenous peoples who have adapted their lives in the forest and retained strong connections with their land may therefore be of utmost importance in attempting to reconcile various interests and conflicting values in the forest. Perhaps due to the increasing support and recognition for this, there has been an increasing trend in the shift from industrial forests to community forestry involving local and indigenous communities (Barron et al., 2022). ...
... Cette analyse illustre par ailleurs les enjeux liés à l'accès à l'eau potable. En effet, au-delà du nexus nourriture-eau-énergie (Schmidt, Huntington, Whitney, Huang, Wies et Aggarwal, 2022), les changements climatiques ont un impact direct sur la quantité et l'accès à l'eau potable, notamment avec les bris de canalisations dues à la modification des sols (Johansmeyer, 2022a ;Spearing, Mehendale, Albertson, Kaminsky et Faust, 2022 ;CBC News, 2022b ;Nunatsiaq News, 2022). ...
... Each strategy harnesses the unique capabilities of different organisms. Bioremediation strategies align with the principles of sustainability by minimizing the need for harsh chemicals and energy-intensive processes [7,8]. This makes them an eco-friendly choice for environmental cleanup [9]. ...
... The transdisciplinarity perspective of water security has become more apparent in recent years by emphasising the need for knowledge sharing and co-production of water security definitions among various domains (Brennan et al., 2021;Ziganshina and de Schutter, 2022). The transdisciplinary nature of water security is often focused on the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus as a practical and operational framework, allowing for a systems perspective to be integrated (Miller et al., 2021;Schmidt et al., 2022). ...
... Cvitanovic et al., 2014;Cvitanovic et al., 2016;Nguyen et al., 2019;Walsh et al., 2019). These barriers include insufficient resources and time to undertake the depth of engagement that produces usable and useful research for decision makers ; lack of skills or training for researchers in engagement and in the process of generating useful research (Bayley and Phipps, 2019;Rozance et al., 2020); academic reward structures that de-incentivise engaged research (Ferguson et al., 2022;Ozer et al., 2023); and a lack of consistent, rigorous evaluation of processes and outcomes that will provide robust evidence of what works to generate usable research (Jagannathan et al., 2020;Meadow et al., 2024;Oliver et al., 2022). ...
... As half of the Arctic and a large portion of the world's permafrost zone lie within Russian territory, the geopolitical tensions have affected scientific collaboration, causing increasingly large data gaps in Arctic research (Rees and Buentgen 2024). "What happens in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic" emphasizes the importance of global concern for issues such as the decline of sea ice, permafrost thawing, melting ice caps, geopolitical posturing, cultural health, and various other interconnected aspects (Huntington 2022). ...