Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Elders of the Northern Ice: Sea Ice, Knowledge and Change in the Arctic, 1957–2007  (Elders of the Northern Ice – ENI)

Outline
The name of the project comes from the title of a book, “Hunters of the Northern Ice” (1968) that was a seminal event in the studies of sea ice use and indigenous sea ice knowledge in the Arctic back in the 1960s. The purpose of the project in 2007–2008 is to bring together the data and the researchers of some 35-50 years ago (“Elders of the Northern Ice”); to match their experience with the records of today’s scholars working in the same field and in the same communities; and to document the scope of change in ice, knowledge, and subsistence use over almost fifty years in collaboration with local hunters and indigenous experts of several generations. The study of change – in local ice expertise, use, ice features, hunting and traveling methods, safety, knowledge transmission, and hunters’ training, as well as in local environment and social setting – will be the main focus of the project. Specific research topics include: a) The role of new ice patterns (because of the climate change), such as thinner and less stable ice, earlier breakups, increased winter and fall storms, greater patchiness of sea ice, and disappearance of multi-year ice in many areas—and its impact on ice use, travel, comfort and knowledge level of today’s ice hunters; b) The role of new technologies, such as snowmobiles, new types of boats and equipment, radios and GPS on hunters’ knowledge and behavior on ice; c) The role of other social factors, such as new economies, village conditions, schooling, language and culture change in the preservation of traditional knowledge of sea ice, associated stories, safety rules, and local terminologies. The study will be undertaken as a network of regional team projects focused on certain sites (communities) or areas (see 1.7, 2.1). Each team will be multi-generational on both sides and will include a senior researcher (“elder”) and a younger scholar or a student as well as local hunters and experts from several age groups. In addition, earlier historical records, photographs, sea ice data, and personal notes of other elders and previous researchers will be sought to extend the time frame. The project will be multidisciplinary, in order to test sea ice records against the data on terrestrial and marine environment, hunting statistics, and weather patterns. Project personnel will include ice scholars, marine biologists, anthropologists, as well as hunters, village elders, and subsistence specialists from local agencies. The project will be conducted in partnership with indigenous institutions and communities. Participation and sharing agreements will be sought with local village councils and hunters’ associations as well as regional umbrella organizations (Alaskan Eskimo Walrus Commission and others). Data will be collected, processed, and copied for prospective storage at regional archives, data-centers, and educational institutions (see 3.3). Photographs and records, both from the old days and new studies, will be shared with local communities and families (see 2.4). The scientific products of the project will be presented in team reports, co-authored papers, datasets deposited to the IPY data-management centers (see 3.4), individual/team monographs, and a final project volume of several chapters, organized by major geographic sections (i.e. Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, Baffin Bay, Barents Sea – see 3.6). Funds are being sought for both new field observations, processing of the old records, payment to local partners, data management, and publications (see 3.5).

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
The project is aimed at documenting ‘medium-range’ (generational) changes in local knowledge and use of polar sea ice. These data will be analyzed against records on sea ice fluctuations and social/technological transitions in various Arctic regions. Project’s ‘multi-component’ approach facilitates the integration of data on indigenous knowledge, ice change, marine mammal distribution, subsistence use, and social processes under system analysis and other integrative models. It will allow comparative reviews across various polar communities and regions, undergoing similar changes. Bringing historical records, old photographs, elders stories may extend the survey time to the 1930s (IPY-2) and, hopefully, to the late 1800s (IPY-1).

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
The project is designed as a network of 12 to 15 coordinated, though independently run, local efforts. Scholars from four to five nations will be involved in the studies in each respective section of the Arctic. The project envisions intensive sharing of methods and data; regular meetings; co-authored publications; and a final international volume of several chapters written by individual teams. Dissemination of project results in several languages and national science

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
Twelve to fifteen prospective field sites are being considered for the study, including 4-5 in Alaska, 4-5 in Canada, 2-3 in Greenland, and 2 in Russia. This would create records from major ice-covered polar basins, such as Bering, Chukchi, Beaufort, Greenland, and Barents Seas, Hudson and Baffin Bays—with the aim of circumpolar analysis.

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: 10/06 - 7/07 (optional)      10/07 - 7/08      10/08 - 7/09 (optional)
Antarctic: n/a

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
Project teams will establish their own logistics at each selected site upon close collaboration with regional institutions and indigenous agencies. Since most of the project workers are well familiar with their study areas, they are to use primarily local village and town facilities (open to other researchers) for their accommodation, research space, and off-site travels.

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
The most important ‘infrastructure’ legacy of the project will be a circumpolar network of sites (communities) with well-documented record of changes in sea ice condition, subsistence use, and indigenous knowledge of ice going over 50, or even 100 years.

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?
National agency
Own support
Other sources of support

Each team is to define its schedule for field observations, usually of three-to four months, and up to 8-9 months. We propose field studies to start in the fall 2006, so that some teams may cover the 2006/2007 ‘ice year,’ for prospective comparison with the 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 ‘ice years.’

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
This expression of intent is in the process of being considered by the U.S. and Canadian National Committees for IPY. Upon project approval, it will be registered with all national committees of the principal investigators and respective site locations.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?
New

The research is a new program that builds its strength upon the results of both early fieldwork and records from the 1960s and 1970s, and today’s researThe research is a new program that builds its strength upon the results of both early fieldwork and records from the 1960s and 1970s, and today’s research in the documentation of ice and knowledge change in the Arctic. It is by no means an autonomous venture, as project teams and individual members will closely collaborate with other initiatives in indigenous environmental observations and sea ice studies under the IPY framework (such as Arctic Peoples’ Observation Center - APOC, Inuit sea-ice occupancy project, Indigenous observation network, and others).

How will the project be organised and managed?
The project will be organized as a network of regional teams focused on the specifics of each site, local sea ice use, and knowledge change. The teams are to pursue common goals and look for certain common indicators, to be compared with similar data from other regions. Most active management will take place at the project design stage and at the final phase of data processing and data sharing with local communities and other scholars. Joint publication of team reports, with comparative review of regional processes at the final stage, will mark another high point in project management. A project managing ‘body’ (steering, or advisory committee) is to be formed, to address common issues, develop study template, and to offer assistance to individual teams in the field. No common budget or daily management is envisioned for the project in general, beyond the level of national grants awarded to the groups of teams.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
The main purpose of the project is to create long-term local databases on sea ice, ice knowledge, and subsistence use that could be shared with local host communities, regional agencies and indigenous institutions. Those databases should be ‘user-friendly’ and include materials (like old photos, notes, charts, field records) easy to copy and be used in educational, heritage, and outreach programs. Project reports will be framed for local audiences, including bilingual materials, illustrations, format and graphics, etc.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?
Data collected by the project and by individual teams should be formatted for two very different types of sharing and management: a) under the agreements with local communities and regional agencies in the study areas; and b) as a part of general IPY data-sharing and management processes. Whereas the former process is today a familiar phenomenon to most polar social researchers, the latter requires setting collaboration with selected IPY data-management centers, as well as developing procedures for polar communities’ access to those new data mega-centers.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
Each team is going to apply for its own funding to respective national granting agencies, although bigger ‘umbrella’ proposals to cover several national teams may be a more realistic opportunity for the countries like U.S., Denmark/Greenland or Russia. The budget for each proposal is tentatively estimated at 100-200K $US in personnel, local, travel, outreach, and publication costs.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
We anticipate significant interest by local media, elders’ and youth groups, educational and public institutions to this project. People will be enthusiastic about meetings of old partners—scientists and locals—who once traveled on ice, lived, and hunted together 35-40 years ago. Bringing back old photographs will be another emotional experience to many local families and communities. The main project’s science product (beyond individual team reports) will be an international volume of several chapters patterned along “The Earth Is Faster Now” (2002). With 12-15 local teams across the Arctic region, we aim at a seminal circumpolar collection of studies on the transition in ice knowledge and use by local people. If polar sea ice is to change dramatically by the IPY-5 in 2057, even more radical changes are expected to indigenous knowledge and subsistence in fifty years from now. The project, therefore, will be instrumental in the documentation of both past and future ‘snapshots’ in the ever-changing relationships between polar people and the ice-frozen sea.

PROPOSER DETAILS

Dr Igor Krupnik
Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC
20013-7012
USA

Tel: 1-202-633-1901
Mobile: n/a
Fax: 1-202-357-2683
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation