Indigenous Communities and Climate Change: A New Challenge for Adaptation

24 May 2007 - Articles, Human Dimension, Arctic

Inuit Woman

As climate change progresses, the Polar Regions are changing more rapidly than any other region of the planet. No one has noticed these changes more than those who belong to indigenous peoples living in the Arctic. Given the specific indigenous knowledge that has helped these communities survive in such harsh conditions for millennia coupled with the fact that the Polar Regions are a bellwether region of the planet when it comes to climate change, this is all the more reason to pay attention to what is happening to those who have intimate knowledge of the Arctic and its environment.

Indigenous communities from all across the circumpolar region have been witnessing and feeling the effects of climate change. Each community is distinct, and the individual problems each community faces as a result of climate change vary from community to community. This article aims to give a broad understanding of indigenous arctic communities and the challenges they face in adapting to climate change.

Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Change

The Arctic has been the home of many indigenous peoples for millennia. Over the past several thousand years many arctic cultures have via oral tradition passed down indigenous knowledge from generation to generation - knowledge that has helped their peoples to survive in one of the harshest climates on the entire planet, where the average temperature often drops to -50°C in some regions at certain times of the year. This indigenous knowledge has helped indigenous peoples to "read" the environment in which they live, helping them to predict when and how to hunt certain types of animals as opposed to others, for example.

Indigenous knowledge that has been passed between generations for millennia has become less useful with the coming of climate change, however. Weather patterns and sea ice conditions are no longer regular and predictable. The thawing and freezing of ice come earlier and later respectively, and phenomenon such as thunderstorms, which normally do not occur above certain latitudes, have begun to be witnessed. In some areas, new species of animal, which only belong in more temperate climates (and for which indigenous language have no name), have started to appear in certain parts of the Arctic.

Climate change also has the potential to affect access to the species indigenous peoples harvest in order to survive. The thinning sea ice has made it difficult for indigenous hunters to safely hunt their traditional sources of food such as seals, polar bears and walruses, all of which spend a great deal of time on the ice. The migratory habits of caribou that a great number of indigenous peoples use as a staple meat have shifted. Hunters are finding it necessary to travel farther and farther in order to bring home enough to eat. For indigenous peoples who herd and harvest reindeer as part of their traditional sustenance activities (particularly in the very north of Scandinavia and Russia), climate change is affecting the availability of food for reindeer on the tundra and taiga upon which they can graze.

Inuit village

Climate Change and Culture

The change in availability and distribution of certain animals as a consequence of climate change not only poses a challenge as far as obtaining sustenance is concerned, but it also has far-reaching cultural effects for many indigenous arctic peoples as well. While there are a wide variety of cultures that exist within the circumpolar region and customs are by no means uniform, there are certain commonalities that exist amongst many cultures.

In most indigenous cultures, whether from Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Russia or Scandinavia, the relationship between humans, their environment, and the animals they harvest for food is very important. Quite often indigenous communities have societal rules and traditions that govern the entire process of hunting and processing food. Societal roles in many communities are often clearly defined.

For the Inuit in Alaska, Canada and Greenland, for example, the men hunt, fish and gather, while the women clean and cut the harvested animal. A young man's first catch is celebrated in many Inuit communities. There are reciprocity rules in many communities as well that stipulate how the spoils of a hunt are to be divided within a family or community. These distribution channels are usually kinship related. This has served as a particularly useful community survival mechanism over the millennia as it assists certain members of a family or a community who might not be as lucky or even be able to hunt.

Decreased availability of certain species as a consequence of climate change might make it more difficult for indigenous arctic cultures to use traditional subsistence hunting practices. This not only would have detrimental consequences on the physical health of indigenous communities, as they would be obliged to rely more heavily on imported foodstuffs, which tend to be of inferior nutritive quality than food caught in the wild, but it could also be detrimental to the social and cultural fabric of indigenous societies.

Indigenous Adaptation Measures and Their Limits

Archaeological evidence suggests that indigenous populations have adapted to drastic climate changes before. Survival for most communities has always depended on the ability to adapt to living in such harsh conditions. In the past entire communities would follow their food sources if it depended on their survival. The ability to be nomadic had allowed indigenous populations to survive.

The arrival of European culture and governing practices to the Arctic has brought changes in the manner in which indigenous populations can practice traditional subsistence activities. Governments have introduced regulations that limit the amount of subsistence activities (especially in the case of fishing) and what can be done with animals and animal products as far as sale to those who are not members of their communities is heavily regulated in some places. Animal rights groups have criticised certain hunting practices of indigenous peoples. The fact that both the emergence of a cash economy, especially with the coming of firms wishing to exploit the vast oil and mineral resources that exist in the Arctic, and the introduction of certain policies of regional and national governments have over the past century sedentarised indigenous communities, has made it difficult for indigenous populations to move freely. The traditional adaptation strategy of moving elsewhere is no longer an option in many cases.

In recent years, the participation of indigenous cultures in decisions that affect their way of life at all levels of government has increased. A number of co-management systems have been devised in which indigenous populations have a say in shaping policies that affect them. Organisations from the local to the trans-national levels have been established in order to provide indigenous arctic populations with an avenue through which their needs and concerns can be addressed, including issues concerning climate change.

Inuit village

Modernised Mixed Economies

Just because the vast majority of indigenous peoples still prefer to obtain their food via traditional means, this does not mean that they have remained behind the times. Indigenous communities are quite modern and use modern technology to go about harvesting their traditional animal food staples. The use of skidoos, motorboats, and GPS systems allow many modern hunters to travel farther and faster than their ancestors did. With the reality of climate change and the resulting shift in migration patterns of certain animals, or the increased challenge of accessing certain animals due to changing ice conditions, many hunters are finding it necessary to travel further and further away from their settlements in order to find food.

However for some indigenous peoples, access to modern technology can be challenging. In order to obtain the kinds of equipment needed to hunt, money is needed. While many people living in indigenous communities live comfortably, there are many in various populations who are living below the poverty level. Those living below the poverty level often have a hard time purchasing modern hunting equipment, which can go a long way in helping to catch many staple foods indigenous populations need to survive.

The amount of food that comes from traditional harvesting practices varies from house to house and community to community, however in most indigenous communities almost half of the food the indigenous population eats comes from hunting, fishing, gathering and/or herding. All cultural traditions aside, even most of those who have jobs and earn good wages need to practice traditional methods of subsistence in order to maintain good health.

A Complex Issue Requiring Further Study

As one can see, the issue of how climate change is affecting indigenous populations is a very complex one. In addition to climate change, political, economical and social factors are putting stress on indigenous communities. It is often difficult to tell where the effects of one factor begin and those of another end. This is a challenge social scientists studying indigenous communities must face when doing research in the social sciences.

What is the most important and immediate issue for many indigenous peoples, however, is how they will adapt to the changes in climate they are being confronted with. Adaptation strategies will vary depending on the needs of individual communities, and determining the best possible strategies for arctic communities is one of many goals of certain research projects within the context of the International Polar Year 2007-08.

By: Joseph Cheek