High Latitude People: The Human Dimension of the Polar Regions
26 Aug 2005 - Articles, Flora & Fauna, Human Dimension, Arctic
Fishing, the main food source for the Inuit, is being affected by climate change with species being observed not previously seen at high latitudes.
© René Marion
The human dimension of the Arctic and the Antarctic could not be more different. Whereas the circumpolar regions surrounding the Arctic Ocean have been inhabited for millennia by a host of indigenous communities, the Antarctic continent has never had any indigenous human inhabitants and was only discovered and first stepped on in the second half of the 19th century. Over the course of the 20th century, however, the surge of scientific, political and economic interest in both the Arctic and the Antarctic has led to a rapid and radical transformation of their human dimension.
The Arctic:
Depending on the different political and geographic definitions of the region's boundaries, the Arctic is home to between two and four million inhabitants. Of these, roughly a third are indigenous peoples, spread out over numerous communities including the Aleuts, the Athapaskan, the Inuit, the Yup'ik and the Inupiaq in Northern Canada, Alaska and North Western Siberia, and the Chukchi, the Nenet, and the Saami in Scandinavia and Russian Siberia. The remaining two thirds are colonial populations such as Danes in Greenland, Russians in the Russian Federation, and non-native Americans in North America.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the indigenous proportion of different areas varies significantly, from the Inuit comprising 85% of the population of the Nunavut territory in Canada, to the Saami accounting for 2.5% of the population in the northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. Also according to UNEP, of the estimated 370 settlements in the tundra regions of the circumpolar Arctic, more than 80% are located on the coast, whilst a majority of the remaining 20% occur along major rivers, mostly in Siberia. Further south, several thousand settlements also exist in the forests, generally in resource locations related to the migration of reindeer and caribou.
Herders, Hunters, Gatherers and Shaman:
As herders, hunters and gatherers, Arctic indigenous peoples have developed their lifestyles in communion with their environment. On land, this has meant hunting and herding reindeer and caribou, whilst in coastal areas sea mammals such as seals, walrus and whales are the most common prey. The coastal dwelling Inuit, the Yup'ik and the Inupiaq hunt virtually all year round (with the exception of a brief period when there is too much ice to go by boat, but not yet enough to use a sledge), whilst inland dwelling Saami, Samoyeds and a few Paleo-Siberian are constantly on the move in search of grazing for their domesticated reindeer. In either case, the animals they hunt or rear provide meat for food, bones for tools and ornamentation, skin for clothing and shelter, and in the case of the reindeer, transportation.
Because of their dependence on animals and the environment, the peoples of the Arctic have kept the ancestral animistic relationship to nature and spirituality whereby humans and animals are said to be able to understand each other and where animals have spirits which affect the fortune of humans. Communication with these spirits is established through the intervention of a shaman (or spirit medium) who, in achieving a state of trance, is able to have his soul leave his body and fly to the land of the spirits where he might seek help in curing a sick person or in relieving a hungry community by asking for a successful hunt.
Modernity:
Today, whilst many hunters and herders still retain their close relationship with wild animals, the land and the spirits, the majority have embraced aspects of modernity. Sleds pulled by dogs are moving aside for skidoos, which are faster and more practical. Kayaks and umiaks have been replaced by craft made from wood and plastic. Buildings made from snow and peat are disappearing in favour of prefabricated structures, and spears are giving way to firearms. The introduction of shops and imported goods is also radically transforming the way of life.
Along with commodities that no one complains about, however, the arrival of civilisation and the coming and going of Soviet communism in the Russian Arctic has also brought real unease. The young are becoming increasingly materialistic, the number of suicides is on the rise, and the "water of life" that was introduced by whalers in the 19th century has led to widespread alcoholism. To make things worse, the wealth derived from the exploitation of natural resources in the Arctic rarely seems to flow back to the people who live there.
It is the increasingly rapid changes brought about by climate change, however, that represent perhaps the biggest threat to the people of the Arctic and their way of life. Indeed, according to the Arctic Climate Assessment Report (ACIA), climate change will soon make the Arctic regions unrecognisable with the thawing of permafrost destabilizing roads and buildings, and the depletion of sea ice threatening to render useless traditional knowledge on how to survive in these regions.
Antarctica:
Antarctica is the only continent on Earth that has no indigenous population and which does not belong to any nation. Although its existence was first hypothesised in AD150 by the Greek Ptolomy who believed that there must exist a continent at the southern pole to balance the vast known continents of the North, it is thought that the first sighting of the Antarctic mainland only occurred as recently as 1820, with the first landing in 1821.
Sealers & Whalers:
If we consider the sub-Antarctic Islands to be part of what is loosely defined as the Antarctic, then the first temporary residents of Greater Antarctica were sealers who read Captain's Cook journals reporting the abundance of these creatures in the Southern Ocean and sailed down to hunt them as early as 1784. These early arrivals drove the fur and elephant seal population of South Georgia and the Falkland Islands to near extinction by the mid-1820s. Hungry for new hunting grounds, the sealers rapidly moved further South following the discovery of the Antarctic Peninsula and continued their slaughter unabated until there were practically no seals left whereupon their attention turned to whaling in the middle of the 19th century.
Exploration and Bases:
With the advent of the heroic age of Antarctic Exploration at the very end of the 19th century came the first huts and bases to be erected on the continent by the likes of Roald Amundsen, Adrien de Gerlache, Captain Scott, Ernest Shackleton, Douglas Mawson and Carsten Borchgrevink, leader of the first expedition to winter on the continent in 1900.
From the end of the heroic age, in the early 1920's, until the beginning of the Second World War, several more expeditions set up quarters on the continent, only to abandon them when their work was done. After the war was over, however, the first permanent all year bases were set up in the Peninsula Region of the continent by the British, the Argentine and the Chilean, and Antarctica has been permanently occupied by humans ever since.
Claims & Treaty:
Following Argentina's establishment of a weather station on Laurie Island in the South Orkneys - which forms the cornerstone of their Antarctic territorial claims - the first country to make a formal territorial claim in Antarctica was Britain in 1908 (handing over the Ross Dependency to New Zealand in 1923), followed by France in 1924, Australia in 1933, Norway in 1939 and Chile in 1940.
These claims were later set aside following the unprecedented collaborative spirit of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-58 and the signing of the Antarctic Treaty by the twelve participating IGY nations in 1961. This stipulated that Antarctica should be devoted to science and "in the interest of all mankind ... shall continue for ever to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international discord" - with a strict ban on nuclear activities, mining and the exploitation of natural resources.
Modern Era:
Today, another 33 nations have signed the Antarctic Treaty (bringing the total to 45) and some 27 nations have set up scientific stations on the continent with a total of 42 wintering stations in 2002. With a winter population of around 1,000 scientists and logistics personnel that grows to over 4,000 in the summer months, Antarctica is still by far the least populated continent on Earth with 14,000 km2 per winter resident. This, however is not taking into account the continuously growing ship-borne tourism industry which now takes around 30,000 (plus staff and crew) to the continent each year, mainly to the Peninsula region.
It is the increasingly rapid changes brought about by climate change, however, that represent perhaps the biggest threat to the people of the Arctic and their way of life. For decades, the elders of Arctic communities have been observing rapid transformation of the Arctic environment and climate. Indeed, scientists are now working in close collaboration with these elders and are benefiting directly with new data, ideas and directions of research. One important example of a study which has benefited from this new type of collaboration is the 2004 Arctic Climate Assessment Report (ACIA) which concludes that climate change will soon make the Arctic regions unrecognisable with the thawing of permafrost destabilizing roads and buildings, and the depletion of sea ice threatening to render useless traditional knowledge on how to survive in these regions.
By: Jean de Pomereu
