Inuit and the Human Impact of Climate Change

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Inuit and the Human Impact of Climate Change
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INUIT TAPIRIIT KANATAMI

• Incorporated in 1972
• Represents the interests of Inuit of Canada at
  the national level
• Primarily an advocacy organization to ensure
  Inuit rights and interests are protected
  promoted

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Survival depends on the environment from the
air we breathe, to the water we drink and the
food we eat.... When any of these components are
threatened, health is compromised.   
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AREAS OF CONCERN

• Climate Change impacts on Inuit health
• Food Insecurities Issues
• Housing
• Environment Contaminants
• Coastal Erosion
• Northwest Passage
• Arctic Sovereignty
• Sea Level Rise

• Wildlife Diet
• Culture, language, and traditional knowledge
• Invasive Species
• Community Infrastructure
• Hunter safety
• New Diseases
• Changing daylight/night
• Changing seasons
• More

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Health Effects of Climate Change

• Increased risk of infectious diseases
• Quality freshwater sources are increasingly rare
• Increase in biological organisms found in
  freshwater sources
• Heat and cold related stresses
• More intense sunlight means increased sunburns,
  potential for increases in skin cancers
• As a result, Inuit are spending less time
  outdoors, leading to Vitamin D deficiencies and
  afflictions like Rickets
• Insects (including invasive species) are more
  active, leading to risks of increased/new
  transmissions of diseases
• Problems associated with changes in diet
  (including Diabetes, Cardiovascular diseases, and
  reduction of intake of nutrients and vitamins)

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Environmental Concerns

• Weather patterns are becoming unpredictable
• This makes hunting and camping increasingly
  dangerous
• Experienced hunters are encountering dangerous,
  even life-threatening situations in areas that
  should have been safe
• Occurrences of hunters falling through sea-ice is
  increasing
• Winter comes later, spring comes earlier, and
  temperature extremes are increasing
• Along with increasingly intense sunlight, sunrise
  and sunsets are occurring at strange times
• Sunrise even occurs earlier in the season in the
  high arctic, thereby ending winter darkness on
  earlier calendar dates
• Intensity of storms has increased, with people
  noticing faster weather transitions
• Unseasonably warm winter weather is leading to
  rain or melting snow, which then freezes when
  temperatures return to normal

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It is more difficult to predict the weather now.
It is changing (Arctic Bay, Nunavut).
Weather forecasting is difficult now. Elders are
not predicting the weather because they do not
feel that the prediction will be
reliable (Nunatsiavut).
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Culture, Language, and Traditional Knowledge

• Inuit culture centers on the environment and the
  wildlife it provided
• Inuit today work jobs and have careers, but
  continue to spend time hunting and camping
• Many Inuit still rely on traditional foods for a
  significant portion of their diet
• People are becoming reluctant to spend time on
  the land, because conditions are changing
• Inuit languages contain much environment or
  wildlife-specific terminology
• With a changing environment, certain linguistic
  terms and expressions are at risk of dying out
• A majority of Inuit Traditional Knowledge centers
  on the environment
• The transmission of this knowledge from
  generation to generation is threatened