The Environment in the Balance. Evaluating Proposals for Resource Management in the James Bay Region: The Native Experience

This independent public form on the James Bay hydro-electric project should evaluate the claims of the new resource developers that they will protect the environment and the native peoples who live there. As concerned individuals and citizens we should make an independent public evaluation of these claims. The question arises: What are the criteria for evaluating resource management programs for this region? I suggest that these criteria can be established by drawing on some of the resource use and management experience of the Native Peoples. In the work I did with Cree hunters and their families I learned that resource management requires log-term knowledge. A comprehensive resource management program would require the hunters' expertise as part of needed long-term research and experience in the regions, and that will require an effective role in decisions for the Native People. A second foundation for resource management is ecological priority. A resource management program should be evaluated by asking if it is based on the limiting the allocation of economic, social and political returns in order to prioritize long-term ecological stability. I suggest that these two general criteria constitute a minimal base from which citizens can evaluate proposals for management of resources in the James Bay region.

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