Event Database via Arctic Seas 

Event Database of Community Based Monitoring (CBM) Using Oral Histories, Indigenous knowledge and local knowledge is available via Arctic Seas Portal by non-profit Snowchange Cooperative, a network of local and Indigenous communities around the north. You can access the Arctic Seas Portal through this link.

Screenshot of the Khanty Climate Events Database linked to the Arctic Seas Portal and developed by the project.

objective

To fill key data gaps through co-creation of consented knowledge on environmental change in 7 regions: Alaska, BC/Yukon, Western Greenland, Northern Finland/Norway, Murmansk, Khanty-Mansia and Sakha-Yakutia

Photo by Tero Mustonen

DESCRIPTION

We will co-develop a database of socio-ecologically relevant events focusing on significant ecosystem changes. The database will include temporal, linguistic and spatial scales and dimensions, including those unique to Indigenous Knowledge and Local Knowledge, to strengthen and diversify monitoring capacity, and support adaptation and risk mitigation.

Our methodology involves Indigenous and local knowledge holders who observe and document this frontline information. By using oral and other historical accounts, we can reconstruct key events, previously unknown to larger audiences and make then accessible via the database.

Our observations will be compared to scientific observations to enable a deeper understanding of the events. The event database will emerge as a central node for consented to Indigenous Knowledge and Local Knowledge observations and can be adopted in other regions and by other communities as appropriate and with consent.

Read a recent publication on microplastics in Arctic waters of the Finnish Sámi area that is part of the Skolt Sámi Climate Events Database.