Wildlife Management Summit Report November 6–8, 2017 Ottawa, Canada.

Abstract

The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) hosted the Wildlife Management Summit that took place on November 6 to 8, 2017 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to deliver on the commitment made in Article 40 of the Kitigaaryuit Declaration, as adopted at the 2014 ICC General Assembly in Inuvik, which, “directs ICC to plan and host an Inuit summit on wildlife management.” The ICC Wildlife Management Summit’s goal was to examine the influence that policies (international, regional, national instruments), environmental change, public perceptions, and changing social economic conditions in the Arctic are having on Arctic wildlife and Inuit food security. The Summit was further directed by the Alaskan Inuit Food Security Conceptual Framework: How to Assess the Arctic From an Inuit Perspective. The report, which reflects the views and knowledge of Alaskan Inuit, emphasizes the need to build stronger co-management structures in order to support food security. The following key actions were put forward by summit participants: -- ICC establish and support a Circumpolar Inuit Wildlife Committee (CIWC) whose mission will be to collaboratively, cooperatively and inclusively preserve and protect Inuit cultural rights to food sovereignty by providing a unified pan-Arctic Inuit voice. -- ICC establish and support a Circumpolar Inuit Wildlife Network (CIWN) in order to support information sharing, learning and communication about Inuit rights, wildlife management and food sovereignty within the network and with the CIWC. -- That an interim steering committee be formed immediately to develop a strategy for CIWC to be proposed to the General Assembly of ICC in July 2018.