Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals
Tribal Air Monitoring Support Center
Melinda Ronca-Battista and Chris Lee
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Data gathered as part of a planned
project with strict quality assurance
(QA) planned ahead of time, and can
include:
 making measurements, or
 using questionnaires
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Data gathered by the community as
part of their lives, without planning
from outsiders, and over a period of
time (TEK)
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TEK: ecological knowledge developed
through an intimate reciprocal
relationship between a group of
people and a particular place over
time.
TEK has a goal of usefulness and is
holistic, rather than isolated
knowledge of parts
TEK can be legally and scientifically
defensible, if 5 principles are followed
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Palauan people of Micronesia
understood there were (and this was
confirmed) more than twice as many
species of fish spawning on lunar
cycles than had been documented by
outside researchers
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James Bay Cree hunters
simultaneously manage beavers of a
4-6 year scale, fish on a 5-10 year
scale, and caribou on a 80-100 year
scale
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Musk-oxen solitary males were
hunted by outsiders as goal of
improving overall population, but Inuit
TEK showed that the theory of
“surplus males” was incorrect and
when such hunting was stopped the
musk-oxen herds increased
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Beaufort Sea bowhead whale population
down to 800, said scientists, but local
hunters understood that whales
migrated hundreds of miles under
offshore ice and therefore were invisible
to the scientists. The Inuit estimate of
7000 whales was found to be correct
after new counting included whales
under the ice.
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Scientists warned that caribou west of
Hudson Bay were about to become
extinct. Inuit countered that seasonal
caribou distribution far west were not
included, and when surveys were done
using assumptions provided by Inuit
there were found to be over 100,000
caribou, and not near extinction
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Oral histories were used as key in defining
Aboriginal common law, Canadian society now has
the option of embracing the social and political
processes which surround and embed oral
histories, and give them their meaning and
significance: "[f]or Native societies, the oral format
is itself the embodiment of their history
 Van der Peet/Delgamuukw tests: Consider:
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 Consider the relationship of Aboriginal peoples to the
land and the distinctive societies and cultures of
Aboriginal people
 ensure that the cultural claims are those of which have
continuity with present and pre-sovereignty occupation
 establish the nature of Aboriginal rights enjoyed at the
relevant dates (1763 or coming of settlement)
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Quantified:
 Numbers, or
 “more than” or “less than”
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Repeatable:
 Documented
 Someone else asking the same questions
or doing the same work would get the
same answers
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Both science and law require that the
usefulness of data cannot be separated
from how it is used
Data and how it is used are evaluated as
a system
 Ex: some information can be legally and
scientifically defensible when used for the
purpose of focusing further research, but not
defensible when used to determine whether
environmental standards were met
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Soundness: the procedures are
reasonable for how the information will
be used
 Utility: the extent to which the
information is relevant for its intended
use
 Completeness and clarity: the data,
assumptions, QA, groups involved are
documented
 Uncertainty: the quantitative and
qualitative variability in the information
is characterized
 Review: the information and its use is
peer reviewed
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Kind
Standard
Regulatory, Legal
Precautionary Principle
Legal — Civil
Clear and convincing
Legal — Criminal
Beyond a reasonable doubt
Scientific
Irrefutable
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Frye Rule, used in more than 20
states; Frye v. United States [54 App.
D.C. 46, 293 F. 1013, 1014
(Cir.1923)],
Federal Rules of Evidence, Law
93±595
Daubert v. Merrell Dow
Pharmaceuticals, 1993
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(1) Is the idea/method testable
(repeatable)?
(2) Is there peer review of the way data
was gathered?
(3) Are there procedures for how the data
was gathered so that errors can be
minimized or estimated?
(4) Are there estimates of uncertainty?
(5) Is the method or technique generally
accepted in the scientific community?
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method: interviews to document TEK:
Apply the 5 factors:
(1) Is the idea/method testable
(repeatable)?
 Document your methods before, during,
and after gathering information, so that
someone else could repeat your
interviews
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(2) Is there peer review of the way
data was gathered?
 Peers include all potential users of the
data, such as local residents AND
scientists, in a stakeholder type structure
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(3) Are there procedures for how the
data was gathered so that errors can
be minimized or estimated?
 Write SOPs for doing interviews, and ask
for stakeholder review of the SOPs
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(4) Are there estimates of uncertainty?
 Numerical estimates are not necessary,
but uncertainty must be addressed, at
least in a qualitative description of
potential sources of error (not reaching
everyone recommended by stakeholders,
different answers from different people)
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(5) Is the method or technique
generally accepted in the scientific
community? YES if you follow
recommended methods, such as:
 AAAS Handbook for Traditional
Knowledge and Intellectual Property
(AAAS Science and Human Rights
Program, 2003, ISBN 0-87168-690-2)
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Tribal Air Monitoring Support Center,
Northern Arizona University and US
EPA
 Christopher.Lee@nau.edu
 Melinda.ronca-battista@nau.edu
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