Abstract In many environmental monitoring and impact assessment processes, Indigenous communities are treated as intellectually homogenous and intracultural variation in environmental knowledge often goes unaccounted for. This not only poses obvious risks to the effectiveness of environmental impact assessments but also gives standing to those who question the credibility of traditional ecological knowledge and its contribution to environmental monitoring and assessment programs altogether. In this paper we describe the steps that were taken to account for intracultural variability in First Nation knowledge of fish and the potential impacts associated with the Peace River oil sands development in Alberta, Canada. Involving the delivery of a household survey to 1,127 First Nation households in 11 Peace River communities, our approach was successful in identifying regional, community, and household variability in fishing activity, and has allowed us to differentiate novice from expert knowledge holders. This research demonstrates the need to account for intracultural variability in First Nations environmental knowledge in order for traditional ecological knowledge to make meaningful contributions to environmental monitoring and assessment programs.

中文翻译：

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考虑第一民族环境知识的文化内差异：环境监测和影响评估的必要条件

摘要 在许多环境监测和影响评估过程中，原住民社区被视为智力上同质的，环境知识的文化内差异往往无法解释。这不仅对环境影响评估的有效性构成了明显的风险，而且让那些质疑传统生态知识的可信度及其对环境监测和评估计划的贡献的人有资格。在本文中，我们描述了考虑到第一民族鱼类知识的文化内变异性以及与加拿大艾伯塔省皮斯河油砂开发相关的潜在影响所采取的步骤。涉及对 11 个和平河社区的 1,127 个原住民家庭进行家庭调查，我们的方法成功地识别了捕鱼活动的区域、社区和家庭可变性，并使我们能够区分新手和专业知识持有者。这项研究表明，需要考虑原住民环境知识的文化内变异性，以便传统生态知识对环境监测和评估计划做出有意义的贡献。