Andrew Kliskey

The Arctic Water Resource Vulnerability Index: An Integrated Assessment Tool for Community Resilience and Vulnerability with Respect to Freshwater

People in the Arctic face uncertainty in their daily lives as they contend with environmental changes at a range of scales from local to global. Freshwater is a critical resource to people, and although water resource indicators have been developed that operate from regional to global scales and for midlatitude to equatorial environments, no appropriate index exists for assessing the vulnerability of Arctic communities to changing water resources at the local scale. The Arctic Water Resource Vulnerability Index (AWRVI) is proposed as a tool that Arctic communities can use to assess their relative vulnerability–resilience to changes in their water resources from a variety of biophysical and socioeconomic processes. The AWRVI is based on a social–ecological systems perspective that includes physical and social indicators of change and is demonstrated in three case study communities/watersheds in Alaska. These results highlight the value of communities engaging in the process of using the AWRVI and the diagnostic capability of examining the suite of constituent physical and social scores rather than the total AWRVI score alone.

Recreation terrain suitability mapping: a spatially explicit methodology for determining recreation potential for resource use assessment

Abstract A geographic information system (GIS) based methodology was developed for mapping recreation terrain suitability using recreation terrain suitability indices (RTSI). The methodology comprised four stages: (1) suitability variables for a recreation activity were identified by principal component analysis (PCA) of a recreation attitudinal scale, (2) a recreation suitability model was developed using spatial criteria for each suitability variable, (3) weight factors for each variable were derived from the principal component scores for each component, (4) suitability overlay mapping was implemented using GIS and the spatial criteria. The output of the methodology was a recreation suitability map portraying the spatial extent of recreation suitability of the landscape for a recreation user group. The approach is demonstrated for the example of recreational snowmobiling in the North Columbia Mountains of British Columbia. RTSI mapping provides a spatial approach to resource use mapping of recreation activity that is robust and based on recreationists’ attitudes.

Simulating and evaluating alternative resource-use strategies using GIS-based habitat suitability indices

Geographic information system (GIS) based models were developed for mapping the habitat suitability of pine marten (Martes americana) and woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus) using habitat suitability indices (HSI). Habitat suitability was simulated for four timber harvesting strategies. These included an existing harvesting strategy and three alternative strategies targeted specifically at maintenance of wildlife habitat and wilderness protection. The alternative strategy that restricted harvesting from some mature-age stands provided the optimal performance in balancing caribou habitat protection and marten habitat protection when compared using multiple accounts analysis. However, the alternative strategy that maximised caribou habitat retention provided the optimal performance in balancing both wildlife and timber objectives when compared using multiple accounts analysis. The approach demonstrates how the use of HSI models can be extended from simple habitat mapping to scenario testing and, coupled with GIS, can assist in the prediction of the outcomes of alternative resource-use scenarios.

The Science of Firescapes: Achieving Fire-Resilient Communities

Abstract Wildland fire management has reached a crossroads. Current perspectives are not capable of answering interdisciplinary adaptation and mitigation challenges posed by increases in wildfire risk to human populations and the need to reintegrate fire as a vital landscape process. Fire science has been, and continues to be, performed in isolated “silos,” including institutions (e.g., agencies versus universities), organizational structures (e.g., federal agency mandates versus local and state procedures for responding to fire), and research foci (e.g., physical science, natural science, and social science). These silos tend to promote research, management, and policy that focus only on targeted aspects of the “wicked” wildfire problem. In this article, we provide guiding principles to bridge diverse fire science efforts to advance an integrated agenda of wildfire research that can help overcome disciplinary silos and provide insight on how to build fire-resilient communities.

Mapping multiple perceptions of wilderness in southern New Zealand

Abstract New Zealands wilderness areas are coming under increased pressure from both overseas and domestic tourists. At present, a limited number of Wilderness Areas are strictly defined in objective, physical terms, but a growing body of research suggests that wilderness conditions are perceived differently by different people. This paper takes a survey of wilderness imagery from among backcountry users and demonstrates how this can be related to four levels of wilderness perception. These are measured in terms of the artefacts, remoteness, naturalness and solitude that each group requires, or will accept, in a wilderness setting, as they perceive it. Using the northwestern South Island region of Nelson as an example, quantifiable indicators for each wilderness property are devised, and plotted for each purism class, using a GIS approach. Perceived wildernesses for each group are overlaid to provide a map of multiple perceptions of wilderness, and the value of this for management is discussed.

Weaving Indigenous and sustainability sciences to diversify our methods

Indigenous and sustainability sciences have much to offer one another regarding the identification of techniques and methods for sustaining resilient landscapes. Based upon the literature, and our findings, it is evident that some Indigenous peoples have maintained distinct systematic, localized, and place-based environmental knowledge over extended time periods. These long-resident knowledge systems contain extensive information regarding not only how to maintain but also to steward biodiverse ecosystems. For example, the Nisqually Tribe of western Washington State, USA blends various aspects of ecological science with their Indigenous knowledge to support the restoration and management of the Nisqually river system watershed along with its associated natural resources of biological and cultural significance. We believe these kinds of Indigenous observations and perspectives are critical for establishing or expanding collaborations with sustainability scientists. Fikret Berkes observed in his foundational text, Sacred Ecology, a “growing interest in traditional ecological knowledge since the 1980s is perhaps indicative of two things: the need for ecological insights from indigenous practices of resource use, and the need to develop a new ecological ethic in part by learning from the wisdom of traditional knowledge holders” (2012: 19). The primary focus of the papers in this special edition of Sustainability Science, including this editorial introduction, is an exploration of the intersection of Indigenous and sustainability sciences. We challenged key thinkers in these research areas to cultivate mutually conducive and appropriate principles, protocols, and practices that address humanity’s collective need to sustain landscapes that demonstrate the ability not only to maintain human life but more crucially the interrelated more-than-human biosphere. The authors were asked to address the strengths and limitations posed by both Indigenous and sustainability sciences in this endeavor. We also encouraged discussion concerning how these two scientific paradigms might collaborate, acknowledging that protocols will need to be identified, or created, to enable successful collaborations. It is our hope that this special edition might add to what Scholz and Steiner (2015) have identified as a scant literature documenting the benefits of transdisciplinary research. This special edition was inspired by an internationally diverse set of Indigenous academics, community scholars and non-Indigenous academics who participated in a National Science Foundation funded workshop entitled Weaving Indigenous and Sustainability Sciences: Diversifying our Methods (WISDOM). The next three sections & Jay T. Johnson jaytjohnson@ku.edu

A social-ecological systems approach for environmental management.

Urgent environmental issues are testing the limits of current management approaches and pushing demand for innovative approaches that integrate across traditional disciplinary boundaries. Practitioners, scholars, and policy-makers alike call for increased integration of natural and social sciences to develop new approaches that address the range of ecological and societal impacts of modern environmental issues. From a theoretical perspective, social-ecological systems (SES) science offers a compelling approach for improved environmental management through the application of transdisciplinary and resilience concepts. A framework for translating SES theory into practice, however, is lacking. In this paper, we define the key components of an SES-based environmental management approach. We offer recommendations for integrating an SES approach into existing environmental management practices. Results presented are useful for management professionals that seek to employ an SES environmental management approach and scholars aiming to advance the theoretical foundations of SES science for practical application.

Assessing the Impacts of Local Knowledge and Technology on Climate Change Vulnerability in Remote Communities

The introduction of new technologies into small remote communities can alter how individuals acquire knowledge about their surrounding environment. This is especially true when technologies that satisfy basic needs, such as freshwater use, create a distance (i.e., diminishing exposure) between individuals and their environment. However, such distancing can potentially be countered by the transfer of local knowledge between community members and from one generation to the next. The objective of this study is to simulate by way of agent-based modeling the tensions between technology-induced distancing and local knowledge that are exerted on community vulnerability to climate change. A model is developed that simulates how a collection of individual perceptions about changes to climatic-related variables manifest into community perceptions, how perceptions are influenced by the movement away from traditional resource use, and how the transmission of knowledge mitigates the potentially adverse effects of technology-induced distancing. The model is implemented utilizing climate and social data for two remote communities located on the Seward Peninsula in western Alaska. The agent-based model simulates a set of scenarios that depict different ways in which these communities may potentially engage with their natural resources, utilize knowledge transfer, and develop perceptions of how the local climate is different from previous years. A loosely-coupled pan-arctic climate model simulates changes monthly changes to climatic variables. The discrepancy between the perceptions derived from the agent-based model and the projections simulated by the climate model represent community vulnerability. The results demonstrate how demographics, the communication of knowledge and the types of ‘knowledge-providers’ influence community perception about changes to their local climate.

Toward a typology for social-ecological systems.

Abstract Characterizing and understanding social-ecological systems (SESs) is increasingly necessary to answer questions about the development of sustainable human settlements. To date, much of the literature on SES analysis has focused on “neat” systems involving a single type of resource, a group of users, and a governance system. While these studies provide valuable and specific insights, they are of limited use for application to “messy” SESs that encompass the totality of human settlements, including social organization and technologies that result in the movement of materials, energy, water, and people. These considerations, in turn, create distribution systems that lead to different types of SESs. In messy SESs the concept of resilience, or the ability of a system to withstand perturbation while maintaining function, is further evolved to posit that different settlements will require different approaches to foster resilience. This article introduces a typology for refining SESs to improve short- and long-term adaptive strategies in developing human settlements.

The role of Indigenous science and local knowledge in integrated observing systems: moving toward adaptive capacity indices and early warning systems

Abstract Community-based observing networks (CBONs) use a set of human observers connected via a network to provide comprehensive data, through observations of a range of environmental variables. Invariably, these observers are Indigenous peoples whose intimacy with the land- and waterscape is high. Certain observers can recall events precisely, describe changes accurately, and place them in an appropriate social context. Each observer is akin to a sensor and, linked together, they form a robust and adaptive sensor array that constitutes the CBON. CBONs are able to monitor environmental changes as a consequence of changing ecological conditions (e.g., weather, sea state, sea ice, flora, and fauna) as well as anthropogenic activities (e.g., ship traffic, human behaviors, and infrastructure). Just like an instrumented array, CBONs can be tested and calibrated. However, unlike fixed instruments, they consist of intelligent actors who are much more capable of parsing information to better detect patterns (i.e., local knowledge for global understanding). CBONs rely on the inclusion of Indigenous science and local and traditional knowledge, and we advocate for their inclusion in observing networks globally. In this paper, we discuss the role of CBONs in monitoring environmental change in general, and their utility in developing a better understanding of coupled social-ecological systems and developing decision support both for local communities as well as regional management entities through adaptive capacity indices and risk assessment such as a community-based early warning system. The paper concludes that CBONs, through the practice of Indigenous science in partnership with academic/government scientists for the purpose of knowledge co-production, have the potential to greatly improve the way we monitor environmental change for the purpose of successful response and adaptation.