Accommodating Diverse Values Improves Application of the Mitigation Hierarchy for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

Abstract

Canada’s federal government has confirmed the requirement to integrate Indigenous Knowledge and community knowledge, wherever possible, to support a sustainability-based assessment in the Impact Assessment Act. Since its inception, Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has sought opportunities to learn from Indigenous Knowledge holders and apply that learning in realizing the organization’s vision for the long-term management of Canada’s used nuclear fuel in a manner that safeguards people and respects the environment, now and in the future. The NWMO’s Indigenous Knowledge and Reconciliation policies and Environmental Responsibility Statement affirm the commitment that diverse values, including inter-relationships between human-ecological systems, will be accommodated. Including historical, cultural, and spiritual interests that are embedded in the local context ensures the best available knowledge contributes to planning through rigorous application of the mitigation hierarchy. This is especially true for spirit and way-of-life within the Indigenous Knowledge system. The interweaving of Indigenous Knowledge with western science also reinforces the notion of humility and accepting that ecosystems, and humanity’s place within them, are complicated and that predictive models of ecosystem change are imperfect. This diverse values approach emphasizes the shared desire to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services essential to well-being.