Project News
The Dynamic Nature of Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate-Related Risks and Change: The Iqaluit Land Use Monitoring Project
Presentation by Dr. James Ford to IPY 2012 Conference in Montreal, given on April 24, 2012.
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.
The following segment aired on CBC North the evening of May 17th.
This presentation was given to guests at a dinner hosted by the CIHR and IAPH in Iqaluit, May 11, 2010.
Yesterday (May 8), Dr. Ford and I traveled to the floe edge with ILMP project hunters Josh Attagouk and Levi Pishuktie; four other Iqaluit area hunters joined us. Heavy snowfall in late winters has enabled the sea ice to persist later into the spring than has become typical, however, the overlaying snow is becoming waterlogged because melt water is retained on top of the ice. Josh noted that travel across this type of slushy snow requires much more fuel than compact snow or ice. Despite the persistence of sea ice, all hunters noted that the traditional route down Frobisher Bay was impassible all winter due to thin ice. Continue Reading
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.
In the feature spread of today’s McGill Daily, Maggie interviews Graham McDowell about his work with the Iqaluit Land-Use Mapping Project. Read the original story here.
Although it is 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle, Iqaluit, Nunavut is still in the midst of vast Arctic tundra, with a climate of long, cold winters and short, mild summers. The territorial capital, Iqaluit is located on southeastern Baffin Island, near the northwestern tip of Frobisher Bay. A community of about 7,200, Iqaluit’s inhabitants are 85 per cent Inuit. Local hunters now say that the climate is changing faster than they have ever seen, with later sea ice freeze-up and earlier melting. In the face of climate change, the way in which the Inuit rely on the land is being forced to change.
Last December, while most students were fretting in the library or enjoying the holidays happily at home with their families, Graham McDowell packed his bags for Iqaluit. McDowell, a U2 Honours Geography student and research assistant for McGill geography professor James Ford, spent December 9 to 18 with Inuit hunters on Baffin Island doing field work for the Iqaluit Land-Use Mapping Project (ILMP).
