Uplifting Indigenous Knowledge Systems - a Two-Eyed Seeing journey to protect and preserve our forested ecosystem in Unama’ki

Lisa Young

Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources (UINR)

Sherilyn Young

Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn (KMK)

Abstract

Canada and the world are facing a biodiversity crisis. The complexity of underlying issues spans across government departments, industry sectors as well as community, provincial and national boundaries. As divisive as these issues may be, our shared concern for the lands and waters that sustain and nourish us as Indigenous peoples brings us together to tackle these challenges. To do this, we must be open to new ways of thinking, approaches, and understandings that can start us all on a path to an equitable and just future.

It has never been a more crucial time to uplift Indigenous voices in conservation in an equitable and inclusive manner. The Mi’kmaq way of resource management includes a spiritual element that ties together people, plants, animals, and the environment. Forests managed by Indigenous communities are more ecologically rich and diverse. The Mi’kmaq are providing tangible opportunities and prosperity to our communities, while preserving the forests for future generations. Dr. Albert Marshall’s Two Eyed Seeing has guided the application of a community-led approach to forestry for the past 25 years. This collaborative approach has successfully fostered relationships with government, industry, academia and non-government organizations to coordinate forest management across jurisdictional and institutional boundaries and explore the application of science and technology through an Indigenous lens. We will share the successes and lessons learned on our Two-Eyed Seeing co-learning journey to achieve Netukulimk in the Unama’ki (Cape Breton Island), Nova Scotia, Canada. 

Netukulimk is the use of the natural bounty provided by the Creator for the self-support and well-being of the individual and the community. Netukulimk is achieving adequate standards of community nutrition and economic well-being without jeopardizing the integrity, diversity, or productivity of our environment.

How to cite: Young, L. and Young, S.: Uplifting Indigenous Knowledge Systems - a Two-Eyed Seeing journey to protect and preserve our forested ecosystem in Unama’ki, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-411, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-411, 2026.

Ecological forestry encompasses a type of disturbance-based forest management meant to emulate a forest’s natural disturbance. Although not a new concept in Canada, it was formerly adopted in the province of Nova Scotia for forestry activities on most publicly-owned land in 2022. This occurred after a scathing review of the prevalent forestry practices—predominantly clearcutting—was determined to have left the province’s forests in a state of decline. 

The adoption of the triad model of ecological forestry is a step in the right direction towards long-term ecological and economic sustainability. However, we are still in the early cycle of this model’s implementation, and its impact on the biodiversity, road network, and forest economics is unknown. The Ecological Forestry Research Initiative (EFRI) is a recent multi-sectoral initiative bringing together government departments, industry and non-profit groups, and 3 universities to fill some of the gaps in knowledge about the impacts of this large-scale transition to ecological forestry and a ‘triad’ model which balances additional land protection with some new high-industrialization areas.

We will present key early results from some of our flagship research projects, including understanding the impacts of silvicultural techniques and changes in road networks and use stemming from ecological forestry applications on biodiversity features such as fish, benthic invertebrates, plants, and forest birds. We also hope to provide new knowledge for best practices in ecological forestry by studying and modelling windthrow and tree marking techniques.  We are also assessing methods for estimating forest carbon and engaging in knowledge translation to allow forest carbon value to be easily recognizable to banks and other conventional lenders. Knowledge exchange is a key aspect of this initiative and we are identifying ways to effectively communicate information on forestry to private woodlot owners and land stewards. EFRI provides support to Mi’kmaw led forestry and forest stewardship efforts, including those of the Eskasoni Fish & Wildlife Commission and the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources. 

How to cite: Sharan, R. and Collison, B.: Overview of the Ecological Forestry Research Initiative, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-412, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-412, 2026.

Scientific monitoring of biodiversity changes requires simultaneously measuring many dimensions of forests, but aggregating over indicators to assess overall condition is a persistent challenge in practice. For example, which monitored changes should constitute “degradation” under the EU’s Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products? There are three general options: (1) choose one indicator to measure, such as surface reflectance (giving incomplete information and obscuring trade-offs), (2) report on many indicators at once, as in the Montréal Process (leaving users to assess overall condition, which is frequently contested), or (3) combine measurements of many indicators in a pre-defined way. Optimal aggregation methods to combine measurements have received attention in ecology, economics, and operations research. We assess common elements of leading solutions across these different fields, focusing on aggregation methods, assumptions, data requirements, and weaknesses in the specific case of monitoring changes in forest condition. Our results highlight weight selection problems when indicators lack some common basis (for example, when both habitat composition and species abundance matter for managing biodiversity, rather than extinction risk alone). We then propose a topological approach, based on estimating the state space of forests using the Natural Range of Variation (NRV) concept. Our conceptual approach treats each observation of forest condition as an n-dimensional vector; the resulting point cloud defines the NRV, and various methods of characterizing this cloud yield distance and volume measures that describe changes in overall condition, and planes which describe trade-offs. We operationalize our approach using Data Envelopment Analysis, Hypervolumes, and Finite Mixture Models, assessing the merits of these related methods when applied to assessments of forest condition in practice (e.g. probabilistic nature of statements, treatment of non-convex topologies, and data and processing requirements). Although our subject matter is technical, our work is motivated by Canadian efforts to develop practical tools that can assess overall forest condition in an objective way. Our contribution lies in synthesis and application of existing methods in the specific policy context of forest degradation monitoring to manage biodiversity.

How to cite: Filewod, B., McIntire, E., Venier, L., and Lauzon, B.: Taking action for biodiversity when multiple dimensions of forests are measured at once, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-521, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-521, 2026.

Title: “We Don’t Manage the Resources; We Manage Our Relationships”

Speaker: Jesse Nicole Popp, University of Guelph

Abstract: As global biodiversity declines amid rapid environmental change, interdisciplinary approaches that weave together multiple ways of knowing are essential for effective conservation and sustainable forest management. Indigenous Peoples worldwide exemplify a relational worldview, emphasizing values such as responsibility, respect, and reciprocity. Our environmental caretaking inherently manages relationships—with the land, communities and nations, and future generations—rather than the land as a resource.

Ignoring Indigenous knowledge systems and place-based stewardship ethics risks confining mainstream scientific understanding of the relationships that sustain life on Earth. Indigenous perspectives fundamentally challenge and enrich the epistemic foundations of wildlife and conservation studies. Viewing wildlife as interconnected kin, engaged in ongoing relationships with each other and with humans, shifts conservation science toward values of gratitude, reciprocity, and shared responsibility. This relational approach offers a transformative pathway to reimagine co-existence—not as an aspirational goal, but as the essential condition for all life on our shared planet.

This presentation draws from interviews by the Wildlife, Indigenous Science, Ecology (WISE) Lab, with Indigenous Elders and knowledge holders to highlight key values critical for stewardship: prioritizing intergenerational knowledge transfer, fostering deep spiritual and physical connections to the land, and cultivating good relationships across communities. Indigenous perspectives offer vital insights for transitioning from fragmented, single-objective management toward more holistic approaches that encompass biodiversity, cultural integrity, and well-being of all our relations.

By showcasing case studies and practical examples, this presentation demonstrates how knowledge exchange, co-production of research, and Indigenous-led approaches can bridge the gap between science and practice. Such collaborative efforts can promote biodiversity conservation that respects cultural values, enhances cultural integrity, and supports Indigenous sovereignty.

This presentation will emphasize that fostering good relationships—rather than managing resources alone—can lead to more resilient, equitable, and effective forest stewardship that benefits all beings.

How to cite: Popp, J.: “We Don’t Manage the Resources; We Manage Our Relationships”, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-188, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-188, 2026.

Fire is an essential ecological process and cultural practice, but can be incredibly destructive across landscapes and urban areas, as we have experienced in the past decade across diverse forests around the world. In British Columbia (BC), Canada, escalating fires have cost billions of dollars to suppress and disproportionately impact Indigenous and rural communities. These extreme events are driven by the combined impacts of climate change and colonization.

In fire-adapted ecosystems across BC, the colonial disruption of cultural burning and the elimination of landscape fires through suppression for more than a century has allowed hazardous fuels to accumulate, increasing ecosystem vulnerability to extreme fires — including old-growth forests and the habitats of many rare and endangered species. Colonial paradigms overlook fire as an essential ecosystem function and part of the solution to mitigate against catastrophic fires and adapt to climate change. This principle underlies the “triple fire paradox”: 1) Attempting to protect fire-adapted ecosystems through control and suppression has increased fire severity and impacts. 2) Restoration of diverse fire across ecosystems is needed. 3) Respecting Indigenous knowledge and revitalizing Indigenous fire stewardship is a key solution.

A paradigm shift to Indigenous-led, proactive fire management centers on risk reduction through fuels mitigation and cultural burning, moving away from fire suppression and forests managed primarily for timber. We will share examples in which First Nations are leading conservation through the revitalization of cultural practices to restore ecosystems. Foundational to holistic restoration is understanding historical fire regimes and the interconnections between Indigenous fire stewardship and ecocultural values, such as understory plants, ecosystem structure, and wildlife habitat. Indigenous knowledge of cultural fire regimes passed down over centuries (e.g., in oral histories and cultural practices) and supported by western science (e.g., tree-ring studies), have recalibrated the understanding of fire-forest relationships in many ecosystems across BC. This knowledge can guide the location, timing, and magnitude of restoration activities, aligning them with historical ecosystem functions to which species are adapted and improving ecosystem resilience to climate change.

How to cite: Daniels, L. and Grenz, J.: Fire: An essential ecological process and cultural practice, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-1010, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-1010, 2026.

Despite the greater public awareness of transparency and ethics shortcomings of carbon markets, UNFCCC Article 6 of the Paris Agreement guidance has remained ambiguous and continues to lack a common regulatory framework, even under the recently proposed “units” of Article 6.4. Little support has been offered for methodologies which require greater coverage of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and no global regulatory oversight mechanism has been proposed. These issues, coupled with the limited enforcement authority of existing binding agreements, collectively limit the abilities and motivation of both state and non-state actors to confidently contribute to (inherently global) voluntary and compliance carbon markets. This structural failure places the burden of regulatory oversight on individual countries, limiting the number of scrutinized investments, maintaining loopholes for actors with misaligned incentives, requiring tenuous diplomacy to oversee cross-national projects, inconsistently valuing national forest assets, and, crucially, preserving the disconnect between efficacious climate policy and the ethical, sustainable development of local communities. This article presents the 'Balance' approach to carbon finance and sustainable development, which focuses on the following three pillars: (1) the creation of biodiversity and (2) social-economic community benefits in helping to (3) holistically address the climate crisis. The Balance methodology is demonstrated to align with the emerging global discourse on Nature Positive actions and Nature-based Solutions (NbS). By integrating climate action with biodiversity conservation and social-economic co-benefits—Balance Eco's three pillars—this methodology creates the potential for an economy of scale that goes beyond traditional carbon finance. This addresses a wider range of UN SDGs, links ecological restoration with livelihoods, health, and community resilience, and thereby strengthens the systemic value of natural capital. In addition to the Marston Vale case study, we highlight an ongoing project in Honduras within the Plan Vivo system, where we are currently collecting data. This site is providing important insights into how the Balance methodology can be adapted to diverse ecological and socio-economic contexts, further demonstrating its applicability and capacity to deliver measurable, long-term benefits at multiple scales.

How to cite: Morrell, D., Dodds, F., Rieche, O., and Abbing, A.: The Balance Methodology: aligning carbon markets with indigenous knowledge for greater emissions reduction, biodiversity protection, and social co-benefits, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-759, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-759, 2026.

Decision-makers and managers urgently need strategies to halt biodiversity loss and maintain ecosystem resilience, while meeting socio-economic needs. Although forests provide essential socio-economic services and host important levels of biodiversity, biodiversity conservation practices in forestry remain largely focused on single species or habitat preservation. This likely overlooks the complexity of species interactions that sustain critical forest functions, some of which can feed back into socio-economic values -- e.g., pest-regulation, or lack thereof, can influence timber provisioning. This limits the ability to anticipate cascading effects of species loss, climate change, and altered disturbance regimes.

Species interaction networks offer a powerful tool to address these gaps. Despite their potential and the fact that trophic network data are increasingly available, explicit integration of network-derived indicators into forest management is virtually nonexistent. This is in great part due to challenges of uncertainty, interpretability, and accessibility for practitioners. Yet, we argue that existing data sources—such as regional metawebs, species distribution models, and long-term monitoring programs—combined with established network indicators can provide a sufficient foundation to utilise network information to guide forest management now, at least at broad spatial scales.

In this presentation, we will focus on how we could close this gap. We will outline criteria that indicators derived from interaction networks must meet to be relevant for decision-makers and managers, and will show how an existing network indicator, trophic network robustness, could be used presently to measure a forest system’s capacity to withstand cascading extinctions, using existing data. We will also discuss how existing data and methods can be tied with scenarios of climate and habitat change (the latter influenced by forestry practices) to forecast impacts on forest trophic networks and weigh these against changes in other forest properties, at large spatial scales. Although these solutions are not yet operationalizable at forest operation scales, they can help shift forest management and broad-scale decision-making from species-centric approaches and enhance our ability to meet forest biodiversity conservation goals.

How to cite: Dansereau, G., Braga, J., Ficetola, G. F., Galiana, N., Gravel, D., Maiorano, L., Montoya, J., O'Connor, L., Pollock, L., Thuiller, W., Poisot, T., and Barros, C.: Overcoming the disconnect between species interaction networks and biodiversity conservation in a forest management context, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-811, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-811, 2026.

Long-term effective management of ecosystems, such as forests, requires integrating ecological principles with diverse societal demands and values. Yet, such an approach is hampered by a disconnect between large-scale biodiversity monitoring data and the practical needs of decision-makers. There is an urgent need for predictive tools that can project biodiversity consequences of different management and policy actions. To address this challenge, the TripleBird project has been launched to develop integrated, science-based decision-support tools, building on long-term avian monitoring data to provide actionable knowledge for ecosystem management. The project's architecture integrates three core pillars. Its foundation is BirdTwin, a digital twin of German and European bird communities builts on large-scale and long-term monitoring data. BirdFutures then utilizes this digital twin to co-design biodiversity scenarios with stakeholders, allowing for the evaluation of policy interventions, conservation, and restoration activities effects on bird species and communities. Finally, BirdBusiness ensures these scientific insights are translated into usable applications for practitioners in business, finance, and politics, such as for sustainability reporting, target setting, and transition planning. This presentation will introduce the TripleBird and provide a critical starting point to align scientific model development with practitioner needs. At the heart of the TripleBird project is a deep commitment to co-production, moving beyond traditional science communication to foster a collaborative and iterative dialogue with stakeholders. Through continuous engagement, we will ensure our methods and outputs are driven by real-world needs. This collaborative process is essential to (1) clearly identify priority management objectives across different sectors, (2) co-define biodiversity indicators that are not only scientifically robust but also decision-relevant and practical to implement, and (3) incorporate invaluable local knowledge to ground-truth and refine our large-scale ecological models. Our ultimate goal is to provide the robust, transparent, and credible projections of biodiversity consequences that are an essential prerequisite for designing and implementing effective pathways towards a nature-positive future.

How to cite: Micheletti, T., Hein, N., Attinger, S., Bumberger, J., Förster, J., Frank, K., Fritz, S. A., Grimm, V., Kühn, I., Reiners, T. E., Settele, J., Thrän, D., Zurell, D., Voskamp, A., and Böhning-Gaese, K.: TripleBird: Projecting Biodiversity Futures to Guide Nature-Positive Decisions, World Biodiversity Forum 2026, Davos, Switzerland, 14–19 Jun 2026, WBF2026-549, https://doi.org/10.5194/wbf2026-549, 2026.