National Geographic: Climate Change Linked to Waterborne Diseases in Inuit Communities
Work from our team’s IHACC project was recently profiled in a National Geographic Daily News post by Ker Than. Read the full article on the National Geographic website.
Gordon Wiltsie, National Geographic
As global warming triggers heavier rainfall and faster snowmelt in the Arctic, Inuit communities in Canada are reporting more cases of illness attributed to pathogens that have washed into surface water and groundwater, according to a new study.
The findings corroborate past research that suggests indigenous people worldwide are being disproportionately affected by climate change. This is because many of them live in regions where the effects are felt first and most strongly, and they might come into closer contact with the natural environment on a daily basis. For example, some indigenous communities lack access to treated water because they are far from urban areas.
Marie-Pierre presented on our Food Security work in Iqaluit last Friday at the IPY 2012 conference.
Will gave a talk at IPY this afternoon about our group’s recent communication efforts. You can download his slide deck below:
The projects will discussed were:
- Feeding the Family in times of stress – Public Dissemination Booklet
- Iqaluit Food Security Videos – The Iqaluit Community Tukisigiarvik Society
- Sara – Food Security in Iqaluit – Dissemination website
- Nauvikhaq – Ulukhaktok Oral History Database (temporary username: reviewer password: forreview1)
You can get in touch with Will by email at wvanderbilt@gmail.com.
Maude Beaumier’s poster, Vulnerability of Inuit women’s food system to climate change in the context of multiple socio-economic stresses, won a $500 first place award at the IPY 2012: From Knowledge to Action conference last week in Montreal. Congratulations, Maude!
Presentation by Dr. James Ford to IPY 2012 Conference in Montreal, given on April 24, 2012.
Sara Statham spoke about her recent completed Masters thesis at the 2012 IPY Montreal conference on Monday April 23, 2012. To learn more about Sara’s work, visit her dissemination website.
Mapping the Human Dimensions of Climate Change in the Canadian Arctic – IPY presentation
Dr James Ford talked about our recent collaboration with ITK, a systematic review of climate change adaptation in the eastern Arctic, at the IPY 2012 conference in Montreal.
You can download the report from ITK’s website, and also explore a google map of the publications citied within it.
Environmental Research Web: Health-relevant adaptation to climate change “still in its infancy”
Photo by Graham McDowell
Alex’s recent paper in ERL was recently profiled in a story on environmental research web by Liz Kalaugher.
In the first study of its kind, researchers from McGill University, Canada, examined the Fifth National Communication (NC) reports sent to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by Annex I parties (mainly developed countries) in 2009 and 2010. This provided information on health adaptation measures taken by 38 of the 41 countries; Malta, Monaco and Turkey did not submit their data in time for the study.
Read the rest of the article at Environmental Research Web.
The Climate Change Adaptation Research Group (CCARG) is based in the Department of Geography at McGill University. Led by Dr James Ford, the group’s research takes place at the interface between science and policy, with a strong focus on adaptation to the health effects of climate change among Indigenous populations, stakeholder engagement for adaptation planning, novel approaches for tracking adaptation at global to regional levels, and knowledge synthesis.
We are seeking a continuing undergraduate student to join our team part-time beginning in Summer or Fall of 2012 (Summer preferred). The student’s primary responsibilities will be to help group members communicate the progress and findings of ongoing projects to the media, general public, and study communities.
The successful candidate will also:
- Develop and maintain websites for the CCARG and the IHACC project, and assist with the regular posting of field notes, new publications, and special projects.
- Assist with the design of major conference presentations, posters, and policy summaries.
- Work with team researchers to develop community dissemination packages and design print and multimedia materials to compliment outreach activities.
- Maintain the group’s presently under-utilized twitter account (@ccadapt).
- Produce short videos documenting the work of new McGill-Based team members.
- Propose and develop exciting new projects that fit within the CCARG’s focus areas.
We’re looking for a students who:
- Have a design background (and a portfolio of work to share with us).
- Understand the basics of online publishing systems, HTML, and CSS.
- Are interested in environmental policy and practice, and familiar with the vocabulary of Climate Change.
- Can work independently on many projects at once.
- Have a strong academic background.
Bonus points:
- You’re also interested in contributing to or developing a research project within the group, potentially as an undergraduate Honour’s thesis.
- You’ve hacked up a wordpress theme.
- You’ve taken courses in Environment, Geography, or related fields.
The work is part-time @ $12 per hour, ~10 hours per week, and may increase or decrease depending on workload. Send a short cover letter, CV, and portfolio (if you have one) to wvanderbilt@gmail.com, with the subject line “CCARG Design Position” before April 13 at 5pm EST.
This weekend, a few members of the Climate Change Adaptation Research Group are presenting and attending the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers. Sara Statham is presenting her M.A. thesis work on Sunday afternoon, and Alexandra Lesnikowski and Will Vanderbilt are available to chat about the group’s projects.
3578 – Resilience, Adaptation, and Innovation: Applied Geographies of Climate Change (part 2)
Sunday, 2/26/2012, from 2:40 PM – 4:20 PM in Park Suite 2, Sheraton Hotel, Fifth Floor
Sara presents her thesis “Inuit Food Security: Vulnerability of the traditional food system to climatic extremes during winter 2010/2011 in Iqaluit, Nunavut” from 3:40 PM – 4:00 PM.
Session Description: The papers published in the 2010 special issues of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers and the Journal of Applied Geography demonstrated the importance of a place-based approach in understanding the severity of the impacts of climate change. While celebrating the breadth of contributions that geographers have made to a very important topic of 21st century, the papers also call for integrating variations between physical and human systems in future research. This means expanding the landscape of climate change research to consider broader sets of issues, including institutional, social and cultural. Institutions, operating at multiple scales, mediate responses to climate change while also rapidly changing and adapting to new demands. Effective responses to climate change require innovation – technological as well as institutional and relational. Innovations are human adaptations to changing needs and socio-economic conditions, embedded in social and cultural processes. Understanding the severity of the impacts of climate change also demands putting climate change research into local context whereby institutions constantly interact with culture, economy, and social values. This panel focuses on analyzing local social innovation in the contexts of adaptation to climate change and associated variability, investigating the value of emerging novel institutional spaces, networks and coalitions. While the panel is built around a special issue on social innovation and climate adaptation, to be published in early 2012 in the Journal of Applied Geography, we encourage any papers that examine the value of institutional space in mediating the process climate adaptation.
Lesnikowski, A., Ford, J., et al. 2011. Environmental Research Letters 6 (4). Find PDF.
Adapting to the health effects of climate change is one of the key challenges facing public health this century. Our knowledge of progress on adaptation, however, remains in its infancy. Using the Fifth National Communications of Annex I parties to the UNFCCC, 1912 initiatives are systematically identified and analyzed. 80% of the actions identified consist of groundwork (i.e. preparatory) action, with only 20% constituting tangible adaptations. read more…
Two members of the Climate Change Adaptation Research Group are attending the UNFCCC COP 17 this month in Durban, South Africa. Will Vanderbilt is presenting a booth in the DEC profiling the group’s activities, as well as the IHACC project. Michelle Maillet is conducting research on the discourse on indigenous peoples and climate change adaptation and the policy decisions made within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for her M.A. in Geography at McGill. Videos displayed at the booth, as well as blog posts by the team at the conference, will appear on our special COP 17 page as the event progresses.
You can also follow our group on twitter for live updates.
Authorship in IPCC AR5 and its implications for content: climate change and Indigenous populations in WGII
Ford, J, Vanderbilt, W, Berrang-Ford, L. Climatic Change (In Press). Download PDF (Open Access).
This essay examines the extent to which we can expect Indigenous Knowledge, understanding, and voices on climate change (‘Indigenous content’) to be captured in WGII of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), based on an analysis of chapter authorship. Reviewing the publishing history of 309 chapter authors (CAs) to WGII, we document 9 (2.9%) to have published on climate change and Indigenous populations and involved as authors in 6/30 chapters. Drawing upon recent scholarship highlighting how authorship affect structure and content of assessment reports, we argue that, unaddressed, this will affect the extent to which Indigenous content is examined and assessed. While it is too late to alter the structure of AR5, there are opportunities to prioritize the recruitment of contributing authors and reviewers with expertise on Indigenous issues, raise awareness among CAs on the characteristics of impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability faced by Indigenous peoples, and highlight how Indigenous perspectives can help broaden our understanding of climate change and policy interventions.
This summer, I spent the months of May and June on Baffin Island conducting field work for my Master’s thesis entitled “Inuit Food Security: Vulnerability of the traditional food system to climatic extremes during winter 2010/2011 in Iqaluit, Nunavut.” This was my third time visiting Iqaluit, and I was very eager to return. Previously, I conducted a preliminary consultation trip in February to meet with local stakeholders and further develop my research project. I returned to Iqaluit again in March to present my research proposal to the Amarok Hunters and Trappers Association. These two prior trips allowed me to forge relationships and acquaint myself with the community, and were invaluable for preparing me for my field work season. read more…
Graham McDowell Speaks at TEDx McGill 2010 from James Ford on Vimeo.
Group member Graham McDowell spoke at TEDx McGill about De-Abstracting climate change in November 2010. Graham is now studying for an MSc in Environmental Change and Management at the University of Oxford, UK.
