Elsevier

Global Environmental Change

Volume 20, Issue 1, February 2010, Pages 177-191
Global Environmental Change

Climate change policy responses for Canada's Inuit population: The importance of and opportunities for adaptation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2009.10.008Get rights and content

Abstract

We identify and examine how policy intervention can help Canada's Inuit population adapt to climate change. The policy responses are based on an understanding of the determinants of vulnerability identified in research conducted with 15 Inuit communities. A consistent approach was used in each case study where vulnerability is conceptualized as a function of exposure-sensitivity to climatic risks and adaptive capacity to deal with those risks. This conceptualization focuses on the biophysical and human determinants of vulnerability and how they are influenced by processes and conditions operating at multiple spatial-temporal scales. Case studies involved close collaboration with community members and policy makers to identify conditions to which each community is currently vulnerable, characterize the factors that shape vulnerability and how they have changed over time, identify opportunities for adaptation policy, and examine how adaptation can be mainstreamed. Fieldwork, conducted between 2006 and 2009, included 443 semi-structured interviews, 20 focus groups/community workshops, and 65 interviews with policy makers at local, regional, and national levels. Synthesizing findings consistent across the case studies we document significant vulnerabilities, a function of socio-economic stresses and change, continuing and pervasive inequality, and magnitude of climate change. Nevertheless, adaptations are available, feasible, and Inuit have considerable adaptive capacity. Realizing this adaptive capacity and overcoming adaptation barriers requires policy intervention to: (i) support the teaching and transmission of environmental knowledge and land skills, (ii) enhance and review emergency management capability, (iii) ensure the flexibility of resource management regimes, (iv) provide economic support to facilitate adaptation for groups with limited household income, (v) increase research effort to identify short and long term risk factors and adaptive response options, (vi) protect key infrastructure, and (vii) promote awareness of climate change impacts and adaptation among policy makers.

Introduction

There is strong evidence that human induced climate change is underway in the Canadian Arctic (IPCC, 2007b). Temperatures have been increasing at twice the global average, recent years have witnessed a dramatic reduction in summer sea ice cover and ice thickness, and extreme weather conditions appear to be increasing in both magnitude and frequency (IPCC, 2007b, Serreze et al., 2007, Barber et al., 2008, Comiso et al., 2008, Graversen et al., 2008, Min et al., 2008, Kaufman et al., 2009). These changes are having implications for Canada's Inuit population, many of whom depend on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods (ACIA, 2005, Furgal and Prowse, 2008). Climate models indicate that climate change will be amplified in Arctic regions (Serreze and Francis, 2006, IPCC, 2007b, Lenton et al., 2008) and communities, governments, and Inuit organizations have expressed their concern. In this context, discussion over what constitutes appropriate policy action on climate change for Inuit is a prominent area for climate policy debate in Canada and internationally (Ford, 2009b). While mitigation is needed if we are to avoid ‘runaway’ climate change, in an Arctic context adaptation is perhaps the most important policy response and is needed to reduce the negative effects of current climate change and help Inuit adapt to changes in climate that are now inevitable. Despite a proliferation of climate change research on impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability in Arctic regions in recent years however, and occasional studies addressing broad principles of adaptive management (Berkes et al., 2005, Chapin, 2006, Chapin et al., 2006, Berkes et al., 2007, Keskitalo, 2008a, Keskitalo, 2008b, Keskitalo, 2009), few studies have examined policy initiatives for adaptation. This is limiting the ability of governments, communities, and businesses in identifying opportunities for adaptation and progressing on adaptation planning (Budreau and McBean, 2007, Ford et al., 2007, Ford, 2008a, Ford, 2009b, Ford and Furgal, 2009).

In this paper we identify and examine opportunities for adaptation policy to reduce Inuit vulnerability to climate change and increase adaptive capacity. In doing so we build upon completed community-based vulnerability assessments and take the next step, using understanding of how Inuit are experiencing and responding to climate change to identify and examine policy entry points. Specifically, we analyze how multiple levels of government in Canada can establish and strengthen conditions favorable for effective adaptation to help reduce the negative impacts of climate change on resource harvesting, travel, food systems, and community infrastructure. Our recommendations are of direct relevance to article 4 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), which stresses the importance of identifying measures to facilitate adequate adaptation, and are intended to support climate change policy development in Canada's northern regions. The focus on Inuit reflects the urgency of developing policy initiatives for this highly vulnerable segment of the Canadian and global population. At a broader level, the Inuit experience of climate change, the urgency of adaptation, and recommendations for policy entry points have relevance for Indigenous peoples and northern communities in general, particularly those whose culture and livelihoods are closely linked to land-based aspects of traditional lifestyles.

Section snippets

Canada's Inuit population

In the 2006 census, 50 480 Canadians defined themselves as being Inuit, 24 635 of whom live in Canada's newest territory of Nunavut. The other 25 845 live primarily in three Inuit settlement regions: the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR) in the Northwest Territories, Nunavik in the province of Quebec, and Nunatsiavut in the province of Newfoundland & Labrador (Table 1). Together, Inuit administered regions cover 31% of the Canadian landmass. The climate of Arctic Canada is characterized by very

Climate change and Canadian Inuit

Inuit communities have been particularly susceptible to changing climatic conditions documented in the last decade due to their dependence on climate sensitive resources for livelihoods (Table 3). Compromised food security, increasing danger of engaging in traditional practices, and the inability to hunt at certain times of the year have been noted across northern Canada (Nickels et al., 2006, Tremblay et al., 2006, IPCC, 2007a, Furgal, 2008, Furgal and Prowse, 2008, Pearce et al., 2009b).

Mitigation and adaptation

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC, 1992) outlines two key areas for climate policy, mitigation and adaptation, both of which are essential for Canada's Inuit population. Firstly, the FCCC and its principal update the Kyoto Protocol legally obligates parties to “stabiliz[e] greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system,” (Article 2). In Canada, a 6% reduction in emissions

Identifying adaptation entry points for Canada's Inuit population: a vulnerability approach

Efforts to identify adaptation needs and inform the development of policies to reduce the negative impacts of climate change, are dependent upon an understanding of vulnerability of a system to climate change, in terms of who and what are vulnerable, to what stresses, in what way, and determinants (Turner et al., 2003, Adger, 2006, Smit and Wandel, 2006, Fussel, 2007, Keskitalo, 2008b). In this paper we draw upon completed community-based vulnerability assessments conducted by the authors with

Entry points for climate change adaptation policy

In this section we examine opportunities for adaptation policy based on an understanding of determinants of Inuit vulnerability and adaptive capacity. In particular we focus on adaptation to risks associated with resource harvesting, travel, food systems, and community infrastructure. The policy entry points target different levels of decision making, including strengthening and prioritizing existing management and support systems; targeting local, territorial, and federal institutions charged

Discussion

Climate change is occurring in the Arctic and dramatic changes can be expected in the future. Inuit are highly adaptable to climatic variability, change, and extremes as our case studies indicate. However, financial, institutional, and knowledge constraints are constraining adaptive capacity and increasing exposure and sensitivity to climate change effects. We identify a number of priority areas for reducing vulnerability and enhancing adaptive capacity, including: supporting the teaching and

Conclusion

Adaptation is needed to protect Inuit livelihoods in a changing climate. Acting now on adaptation can bring near-term benefits, reduce current climate vulnerability, and target socio-economic policy objectives alongside managing the effects of current and future climate change. Historically, political action and lobbying by Inuit political actors at all levels has been dominated by a focus on illustrating the impacts of climate change and mitigation, although new initiatives initiative have

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Inuit of Canada for their continuing support of this research. This article benefited from contributions from Christina Goldhar, Laura Fleming, Tanya Smith, and Lea Berrang-Ford. Adam Bonnycastle produced Fig. 1. Funding for the research was provided by the International Polar Year CAVIAR project, the Nasivvik Centre for Inuit Health and Changing Environments, ArcticNet, SSHRC, Aurora Research Institute fellowship and research assistant programmes, Association of Canadian

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