From left: Carrie Grable, ITK; Dr. Scot Nickels, ITK; Jim Henderson, McGill; KC Bolton; Martin Lougheed, ITK
Representatives from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) visited McGill this week to take part in a skill-sharing session on systematic reviews organized by team member KC Bolton and librarian Jim Henderson. ITK, the national Inuit advocacy organization based in Ottawa, has recently initiated Inuit Qaujisarvingat: The Inuit Knowledge Centre with the goal of advancing Inuit knowledge for sustainable Arctic science and policy. The Vulnerability and Adaptation Research Group is working on a number of projects with them, including a project sponsored by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada to characterize the state of knowledge regarding climate change adaptation in the Canadian Arctic.
For Immediate Release
November 1, 2010
Download the PDF press release here
Find the scientific article in Global Environmental Change here
Download the scientific article as a Word document here
McGill Study Asks “Are We Adapting to Climate Change?”
Delegates from around the world are preparing for the UN climate change talks that kick off in Mexico at the end of the month. While debate over emissions targets continues to rage in the wake of last year’s talks in Copenhagen, there is one area where nations agree: we’re going to have to adapt.
Yet despite the newfound interest in adaptation, it remains unclear if adaptation is possible or what challenges we will face. A study released last week in the prestigious scientific journal Global Environmental Change, led by Dr Berrang-Ford at McGill University, sheds light on these questions. Posing the question, Are we adapting to climate change?, the study highlights that adaptation is already taking place and is possible but is piecemeal and ad hoc in nature. read more…
Berrang-Ford, L., Ford, J., and Patterson, J. Global Environmental Change (21), 25-33. Find PDF.
Human systems will have to adapt to climate change. Understanding of the magnitude of the adaptation challenge at a global scale, however, is incomplete, constrained by a limited understanding of if and how adaptation is taking place. Here we develop and apply a methodology to track and characterize adaptation action; we apply these methods to the peer-reviewed, English-language literature. Our results challenge a number of common assumptions about adaptation while supporting others read more…
The Human Dimensions of Climate Change in the Khumbu Region of Nepal: Implications of Hydrological Modifiction
2010 October 24
Graham McDowell. Poster Presentation at the 2010 McGill Undergraduate Research Conference. The poster was awarded first prize in the Health & Social Science category. Click the image below to view a larger version.
Feeding the family during times of stress: experience and determinants of food insecurity in an Inuit community
2010 October 14
Ford, J. and Beaumier, B. The Geographical Journal. Find PDF.
This paper uses a mixed methods approach to characterise the experience of food insecurity among Inuit community members in Igloolik, Nunavut, and examine the conditions and processes that constrain access, availability, and quality of food. We conducted semi-structured interviews (n= 66) and focus groups (n= 10) with community members, and key informant interviews with local and territorial health professionals and policymakers (n= 19). read more…
Earlier this summer, following eleven days of ILMP research on southern Baffin Island, I departed for a two-month stint in Nepal. I was there to conduct the field research component of my Honours thesis: ‘The Human Dimensions of Climate Change in the Khumbu Region of Nepal: Implications of Hydrological Modification’. I have just returned to Montreal.
Once in Nepal, and before heading into the mountains, I took time to meet with various decision-makers and researchers in the capital city of Kathmandu. These individuals enriched my understanding of the context I was working in and, thus, improved my study design and the quality of research I was able to carry out. Kathmandu to my study sites in Khumbu required an exciting prop-plane ride to the precariously situated Lukla Airport followed by a two-day hike to my starting point, Namache Bazzar (3,440m). read more…
Vulnerability of community infrastructure to climate change in Nunavut: A case study from Arctic Bay
2010 September 1
Ford, J. et al. In: Smit et al (eds) Climate change vulnerability and adaption in Arctic regions. Find PDF.
This paper uses a vulnerability approach to characterize infrastructural vulnerability to climate change, drawing upon a case study from the Inuit community of Arctic Bay. Interviews with community members and geomorphological observations indicate a number of exposure-sensitivities which currently affect the community and which have the potential to become more problematic with future climate change. read more…
Read the full interview on SciencePoles, the scientific website of the International Polar Foundation.
Food security (when food is available, accessible and of sufficient quality) is a major issue for the Inuit of northern Canada. Climate change is making it increasingly more difficult for hunters to access traditional hunting routes and changing animals’ natural distribution areas. On top of this, traditional hunting knowledge is not being passed from one generation to the next as easily as it used to, and the cost of living in the Canadian Arctic is exorbitant.
In the following interview, Marie-Pierre Lardeau of McGill University in Montréal discusses food security issues Inuit in many parts of Canada are facing as well as some of the projects she and her colleagues including are working on with Dr James Ford to document the current situation.
An interview with Elisapi Davidee-Aningmiuq, the program coordinator at the Iqaluit Tukisigarivik centre. The drop in center is open every weekday, and provides a breakfast program, free country food, and land skills training to the community of Iqaluit, Nunavut.
The center is one of three community organizations in Iqaluit which our research group has partnered with on the project, “Feeding the family during times of stress: Food security, climate change and globalization in the Canadian North (2009 – 2011).”
To watch this video in HD, click here.
Press Release: McGill Researchers: Aboriginal Canadians need better health support in face of climate change
2010 June 24
Download the release here (pdf).
“Climate change has been identified as potentially the biggest health threat of the 21st century,” says a study by researchers from McGill, Trent, and the University of Alberta which examines the vulnerability of Aboriginal health systems in the face of climatic change. “Intervention is needed to prevent, prepare for, and manage climate change effects on Aboriginal health but is constrained by a limited understanding of vulnerability and its determinants.”
James D. Ford, E. C. H. Keskitalo, Tanya Smith, Tristan Pearce, Lea Berrang-Ford, Frank Duerden, Barry Smit (2010). WIRE’s Climate Change 1(3). Download PDF.
Assessing vulnerability is an important component of human dimensions of climate change (HDCC) research. Vulnerability assessments identify and characterize who and what are sensitive to climatic risks and why, characterize adaptive capacity and its determinants, and identify opportunities for adaptation. This paper examines the importance of case study and analogue methodologies in vulnerability research, reviews the historical evolution of the two methodologies in the HDCC field, and identifies ways in which they can be used to increase our understanding of vulnerability. read more…
Thompson. H., Berrang-Ford, L., and Ford, J. Sustainability. (8), 2719-2733. Download PDF.
In recent years it has become clear that climate change is an inevitable process. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the expectation is that climate change will have an especially negative impact, not only a result of projected warming and rainfall deficits, but also because of the vulnerability of the population. The impact upon food security will be of great significance, and may be defined as being composed of three components: availability, access, and utilization. To further investigate the link, a systematic literature review was done of the peer-reviewed literature related to climate change and food security, employing the realist review method. Analysis of the literature found consistent predictions of decreased crop productivity, land degradation, high market prices, negative impacts on livelihoods, and increased malnutrition. Adaptation strategies were heavily discussed as a means of mitigating a situation of severe food insecurity across the entire region. This is linked to issues of development, whereby adaptation is essential to counteract the negative impacts and improve the potential of the population to undergo development processes. Findings additionally revealed a gap in the literature about how nutrition will be affected, which is of importance given the links between poor nutrition and lack of productivity.
Goldhar, C. and Ford, J. Chapter in: Smit et al (eds) Climate change vulnerability and adaption in Arctic regions, Springer. Find PDF.
This chapter presents results from an exploratory study of food system vulnerability in the municipality of Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland, characterizing the exposure-sensitivities and adaptive capacity of the food system to stressors associated with climate and climate change in the context of changing livelihoods. The ability of community members to access culturally relevant foods of sufficient quantity and quality is discussed within the context of social, economic, political and environmental change in Greenland. The Qeqertarsuaq food system was found to be particularly sensitive to climate variability and change through the dependence of many residents on subsistence livelihoods and the isolated location of the community, leading to often unpredictable store food shipments. Recent warming has been linked to a reduction in sea ice extent with noticeable changes in the availability of harp seals, and the migration of eider duck populations. The effects of these exposures on food system vulnerability in Qeqertarsuaq are mediated by the role of food sharing and trading in the community, hunter support programs, knowledge gained through the experience of previous climate variability, and the presence of a diverse food system including both traditional and store food sectors- all factors that strengthen adaptive capacity.
Food insecurity among Inuit females exacerbated by socio-economic stresses and climate change
2010 June 1
Beaumier, M., and Ford, J. Canadian Journal of Public Health 101(3), 196-201. Find PDF.
Objectives: To identify and characterize the determinants of food insecurity among Inuit women.
Methods: A community-based study in Igloolik, Nunavut, using semi-structured interviews (n=36) and focus groups (n=5) with Inuit women, and key informants interviews with health professionals (n=13). read more…
