McGill News: Casualties of climate change: Inuit hunters in northern Canada are having a tough time coping with the effects of warmer weather

See the original article by Hélèna Katz here.

As Arctic sea ice gets thinner and warmer temperatures thaw permafrost, hunting for their traditional food sources is becoming a more expensive proposition for the Inuit. It’s one of the findings of a three-year study led by James Ford, associate professor of geography at McGill, along with colleagues from the University of Guelph.

They examined the social, economic and cultural impact of climate change on 15 Inuit communities. “We were looking through the eyes of local people and at the dangers in their everyday life,” Ford says. The study appeared in a recent issue of the journal Global Environmental Change.

Like the proverbial canary in a coal mine, the Arctic is seeing noticeable evidence of climate change. “You can get an idea of how it will affect communities elsewhere by studying the Arctic in terms of social, economic and cultural stresses,” Ford says. Temperatures there are increasing at twice the global average and the amount and thickness of summer sea ice has dropped dramatically.

Fewer cold days mean ice takes longer to form in the fall and spring breakup arrives earlier. This shortens the season during which winter roads provide access to other communities. Warmer temperatures also affect the stability of buildings and roads that sit on melting permafrost and lead to coastal erosion in such communities as Tuktoyaktuk on the Beaufort Sea.

Hunters are feeling the effects. “Hunting is not a hobby,” Ford says. “It’s a way of life – socially, culturally and for food.” Travelling along the ice is becoming more dangerous, making it harder for the Inuit to access their traditional foods. “Communities rely on sea ice as platforms to access hunting,” Ford explains. Younger hunters tend to be more vulnerable, because they have less knowledge than their elders do about the land, such as how to identify dangerous ice and how to survive if a snowmobile breaks down.

“Now people [up north] say the forecast is of no use,” Ford explains. “Many elders are making their own forecasts based on traditional knowledge.”

Meteorologists who were once based across the North are now located in southern Canada. Incorporating local information into their weather forecasts from thousands of kilometres away is difficult. “Now people [up north] say the forecast is of no use,” Ford explains. “Many elders are making their own forecasts based on traditional knowledge.”

The Inuit have adapted to climate change by finding new – and often longer – routes to reach their hunting areas and relying on new technologies such as global positioning system devices and satellite phones to enhance safety. They use all-terrain vehicles when there isn’t enough snow on the ground to support snowmobiles and now hunt from boats instead of on less stable sea ice. But the extra gas that’s needed for these other forms of transportation has made hunting more expensive.

“The Inuit have adapted in the past to what they hunt and when they hunt [but] their adaptation does have its limits,” Ford says. Those who depend the most on hunting for food are generally the least likely to have the money necessary to buy the technology they now need to maintain a subsistence lifestyle. “People who have access to financial resources can adapt more easily,” Ford says. “Hunters are the ones who create the least impact [on the environment] but are the most affected [by climate change].”

Ford and his team argue that Canada’s climate change policy should focus more attention on helping the Inuit adapt to its effects. Suggestions include funding to subsistence hunters who can’t afford to buy the technology they need to adapt to climate change, support for elder-youth training programs that teach skills and knowledge about the land, and more accurate weather forecasting. “The Inuit have not really caused this problem of climate change, but they are on the forefront [of its effects].”