Arctic Residents' Observations and Human Impact Assessments in Understanding Environmental Changes in Boreal Forests: Russian Experience and Circumpolar Perspectives

Three methods of gathering local and traditional knowledge of Indigenous Peoples were used to assess environmental changes and human impacts in Russian boreal forest communities: structured interviews, followed by an unstructured interview, and an education/training workshop. The most important environment changes reported by Indigenous Peoples included the disappearance of animals and plants, climate changes, a decrease in forest and shrub area, and human impacts such as poaching, forests fires, industrial logging, clearing of forests for firewood, and water pollution by industrial wastes and discharges. We propose establishment of the Boreal Residents' Network for Socio-environment Assessments and Education for Sustainable Development to acquire local and traditional knowledge as a supplement to scientific monitoring. The proposed approach would involve permanent inhabitants living in a broad range of boreal forests to gather local and traditional knowledge and assessments. This could lead to a meta-database to share with international networks.     

Applications of the industrial ecology concept in a research project: Technology and Climate Change (CLIMTECH) Research in Finland

This contribution to the Journal of Cleaner Production special issue ‘Applications of Industrial Ecology’ is based upon an extensive literature review, which produced four criteria to characterise research on the concept of industrial ecology (IE). The criteria are (1) material and energy flows, (2) systems improvement, (3) systems adaptation and (4) change management. The criteria were analysed against the six subject areas of the Technology and Climate Change (CLIMTECH) Research Programme in Finland to identify the applications of the concept of industrial ecology. The results of the analysis contribute (a) to the debate on the characteristics of the emerging concept of IE, (b) show IE characteristics of a large Finnish research project in the field of climate change mitigation and (c) invite scholars in the field to study the observed unclear and fuzzy role of the concept of IE in practical research project work. Responses to this article are encouraged for publication in the future issues of Journal of Cleaner Production.