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Following the 1972 UN conference in Stockholm, indigenous participation
in NGO forums and scientific meetings has led to an appreciation of different
forms of traditional knowledge and the inclusion of traditional ecological
knowledge in land and resource planning. Today, many scientists welcome
the partnership of indigenous and local Arctic residents in research.
| The importance of subsistence foods |
| Communities throughout the Arctic depend on domestic reindeer, wild
meat, birds, marine mammals, fish and local plants which account for
up to 50 per cent of the indigenous diet and 25 per cent of the general
population's diet in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug region of the Russian
Federation (AMAP 1997). This subsistence food is critical to indigenous
people, and it is one reason why indigenous organizations promote
the conservation of natural resources, rights to hunt, fish, trap
and gather plants, and a reduction in the pollution transported to
the Arctic from the mid-latitudes. |
Internet access, while unevenly distributed, has revolutionized Arctic
communication. However, while computers as well as television, film, video
and broadcasting have spread across the Arctic, many of the settlements
in the Russian Arctic still have inadequate or no telephone service.
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