SRS RN: A novel approach - An Indigenous team leading the co-production of knowledge in sustainable resource systems

Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, La Conner WA

Investigators

Abstract

The unique insights provided by tribal nations and their Indigenous knowledges are recognized as being key to developing more sustainable futures. This project empowers Northwest tribes to take the lead in identifying research priorities for a sustainable regional systems research network that is driven by tribes for tribes. The project will bring together multiple organizations, disciplines, and tribes to co-produce a Sustainable Regional Systems Research Network (SRS RN). The proposed work will focus on climatic impacts on forests, foods, and water. Individual tribes have developed adaptation strategies grounded in Indigenous knowledges that could benefit Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities as the Northwest region of the USA faces rapid changes from climatic impacts. The research will be based on the socio-ecological system, a foundational concept in all Indigenous knowledge. The tribes of the Northwest view their own health and wellbeing as existing via mutually beneficial relationships among humans, nonhuman relatives, and the environment. In collaboration with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, the project will be led by the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI), whose member tribes are implementing localized, sustainable adaptive resource management projects founded on Indigenous knowledge in the context of climate change that may be scalable to other regional systems. The 12-month project will consist of tribal representatives meeting on monthly calls and two in-person workshops to discuss their respective projects. Representatives will identify which projects might be suitable to scale to a regional system, identify existing research gaps, hone research questions, and develop hypotheses about the regional systems of study (forests, foods, and water, in the context of climate) in preparation for drafting an SRS RN full proposal. The sustainable resource management systems that result from adaptations based on Indigenous knowledge would be desirable societal outcomes for all communities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.