The CBD and its significance for seal management in the Arctic

STAKEHOLDER’S PERSPECTIVE

I

Violet Ford Former Vice-President, International Affairs, Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada

Inuit practice sustainable development through a combination of age-old practices and modern institutional frameworks. Inuit pursue their economic goals and economic self-reliance while at the same time practicing sustainable use.

II

Traditional practices of the Inuit relevant to marine resources have been carried out in a manner that contributes to and enhances their sustainable use. Inuit are for the most part a marine-based Indigenous People who rely heavily on marine biodiversity as a food source and for economic self-reliance, and this includes the hunting and harvesting of seals. This resource has always been hunted and harvested in a sustainable and humane manner.

In 1983, the EU passed a limited import ban on some seal products, with an exemption for Inuit. The result was a global collapse in prices for seal products and an attendant 220% increase in the suicide rate of adult male hunters, who are one of the key holders of traditional knowledge.

Today, another seal import ban by the EU has been introduced. Is this history repeating itself? The difference today is that Inuit are producing seal products for economic self-reliance and when these bans are in place, this will impact severely on the economy, livelihoods, and traditional knowledge and culture of the Inuit, and on the sustainable use of this biodiversity.

Another difference with the 1983 ban is the existence, since 1992, of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its objectives which include the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, and the fair and equitable sharing

70 PROTECTING ARCTIC BIODIVERSITY

of benefits arising from its utilization. This treaty provides for involvement of Indigenous communities in the sustainable use of biological resources coinciding with its objectives. CBD is particularly significant because it recognizes, in its preamble, the close and traditional dependence on biological resources of many Indigenous and local communities that embody traditional lifestyles, and the desirability of equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of traditional knowledge, innovations, and practices relevant to the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of its components.

This preamble, combined with Article 8(j), is seen as one of the key articles for Indigenous communities. This article provides that each contracting party shall as far as possible and as appropriate:

“Subject to its national legislation respect, preserve, and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of Indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and promote their wider application with the approval and involvement of the holders of such knowledge, innovations and practices and encourage the equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of such knowledge, innovations and practices.”

Indigenous Peoples have been very influential with state governments to ensure that decisions of the Conference of the Parties (COP) provide for the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples, and are an indication of the commitment that state governments are making to implement Article 8(j). One such decision adopted by the COP is Decision VII/12