An Arctic Systems Science Synthesis Project of the National Science Foundation / Office of Polar Programs

The Project Research Team Gary Kofinas, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks / USA (Project PI) Brad Griffith, Institute of Arctic Biology, and US Geological Survey & University of Alaska Fairbanks / USA (Project Co-PI) Matthew Berman, Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage / USA (Project Co-PI) Konstantin Klokov, Department of Geography, St Petersburg State University / Russia Stephanie Martin, Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage/ USA Don Russell, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada / Canada Craig Nicolson, School of Resource Conservation, University of Massachusetts/ USA Bruce Forbes, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland/ Finland David Douglas, US Geological Survey / USA Gennady Belchansky, Russian Academy of Science/ Russia Leonid Kolpaschikov, Extreme North Agricultural Research Institute

The Project's Six Regional Case Studies

Project Summary

Rangifer (Reindeer/caribou) is the most important terrestrial subsistence resource of the Arctic System. Today there is considerable concern about forces for global change and their implications to Human-Rangifer sustainability. This project speaks to that concern by addressing the problem of uneven regional knowledge about these systems and by providing information that will support assessments of future vulnerabilities.The Human-Rangifer System is defined at the regional scale as the set of ecological-social processes underlying the human use of Rangifer (Reindeer/Caribou). These processes include bio-physical interactions, socio-economic dynamics, the role of social institutions and organizations in shaping human adaptation. Resilience in these systems is the amount of disturbance to individual or multiple components that can be accommodated without change to alternative domains. The overarching goal of this project is to improve understanding of the relative resilience and adaptability of regional Human-Rangifer Systems to forces for global change, and to derive generalized propositions about their functional properties as critical aspects of the Arctic System. The project's study of resilience goes beyond the regional analyses of Human-Rangifer Systems considered in past studies, to address the heterogeneity present in the drivers and responses found across the circumpolar North. Our circumarctic synthesis undertakes a comparative retrospective analysis of six regional case studies in North America and Russia as a means of embracing the breadth of heterogeneity in Human-Rangifer Systems. The project develops a conceptual framework for measuring and assessing resilience in three components of the Human-Rangifer System: ecological processes, socio-economic processes, and institutional processes. In addition, simple synthesis models will be developed and simulated to examine resilience in each subcomponent process interactions, as well as in the coupled social-ecological system as a whole. This project will be the first to provide a comprehensive synthesis of heterogeneity and resilience of Human-Rangifer Systems, and the first such project to predict means of accommodating changes in drivers and enhancing resilience of Human-Rangifer systems in the circumpolar North. The project serves as an intellectual precursor to future SEARCH initiatives, through the compilation of datasets and development and validation of models that will strengthen those endeavors. Interacting with the Circum-Arctic Rangifer Monitoring and Assessment Network (CARMA), the project informs an international community of indigenous leaders, resource managers and scientists through direct participation in aspects of the synthesis process and in the review of the project's results. The project supports training of PhD students and the work of a post doc of the University of Alaska as full members of the interdisciplinary synthesis team, and thus, helps prepare a new generation of scholars with skills of integrated Arctic systems analysis. Together these efforts prepare society better to understand the Arctic System and ensure a desirable future.

Powerpoint about the project (presented by G Kofinas et al. at the IHDEC Open meeting in Bonn Germany, October, 13, 2005 (Click here to view as PDF)

PhD Fellowship opportunties associated with this project (click here for details)

Project Contact: Gary Kofinas, Department of Resrouces Management and Institute of Arctic Biology, UAF. gary.kofinas@uaf.edu