Friday 11 May, 2001
Climate Change In The Canadian Arctic
Mosquitoes are finding their way to the Arctic Circle. And robins are being sighted in Canada's Northwest Territories. Scientists believe the presence of species, not previously seen in the region, is only one of the effects of climate change. Others include the melting of glaciers and the erosion of coastlines.
In the past decades, native communities have also been observing changes, such as the thinning of sea ice. During the winter, experienced hunters have fallen through ice formerly considered safe. They say their way of life is being threatened.
No Word For Robin: Climate Change In The Canadian Arctic examines some of the social and environmental consequences of climate change in Canada's Northwest.
The Arctic is a frozen ocean surrounded by land. It is the homeland of a variety of indigenous peoples, such as the Inuit, and diverse wildlife – caribou, musk ox, seals, Arctic cod and char, among other species. To a large degree, ice defines this land and its inhabitants.
Increased Warmth
In recent decades, scientists have been voicing their concern about the impact of climate change on this unique environment. They say temperatures in the Northwest Territories have risen as much as two to four degrees – three to five times faster than in the rest of Canada.
This warming is brought about, some say, by fossil fuel combustion produced largely by some of the world's most powerful and industrialised nations.
In December 1995, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), affiliated to The United Nations, issued a landmark report on how human activities are increasing the concentrations of naturally occurring greenhouse gases, thereby significantly altering the regional and global climate.
These gases - mainly carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and ozone - trap the heat of the sun and warm the Earth.
Melting Ice
On the high ridges of the Yukon mountains, Rick Farnell, from the Yukon Department of Renewable Resources, is looking for a 100-metre wide ice patch, which shows signs of melting. Having monitored the patch over a period of time, he has noticed that it has decreased in size.
As the ice melts, it reveals ancient animal remains and human artefacts, until recently trapped in ice. Archaeologists are interested in documenting these new finds but have to work very quickly. The patches are melting at an alarming rate.
| 'These sites are really burning back fast. Glaciologists predict we only have five to 10 years before they're gone completely…they could be a real important signature of global warming.' | |
Erosion Of The Coastline
Each year, Tuktoyaktuk, a hamlet on the coast of Beaufort Sea, has been losing a part of its shoreline to the sea. The erosion results from waves hitting the shore during severe storms. Erosion has forced Tuktoyaktuk's inhabitants to move homes to safer areas and invest nearly a million dollars in the creation of a sea wall built with rocks.
Rob McDonald, a research scientist with Canada's Institute of Ocean Sciences, explains:
| 'Some places around the delta have erosion rates of 10 metres a year. Tuktoyaktuk is not high above sea level, so rising water and one more storm a year takes the land away.' | |
He estimates that with climate change, sea levels could rise by one third to one full metre in the next 50 years.
Wildlife: The Robin
Four hundred kilometres north of Tuktoyaktuk, in Canada's High Arctic, lies an outcropping called Banks Island. The inhabitants of the Sachs Harbour hamlet have been noticing changes in the climate, topography and wildlife.
Fishermen, who harvest fish from the sea, have recently caught Pacific salmon, a rarity. In the fall, the local people have started to notice thunder and lightning; in the summer, more flies and mosquitoes.
Roger Kuptana, a bird enthusiast, spotted a red-breasted robin. He says:
| 'I don't know if there's a word in Sachs Harbour for robin. They're so rare here, we don't have names for them.' | |
Given the many changes, the aboriginal peoples, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and the Hunters and Trappers Committee of Sachs Harbour initiated a yearlong project in an effort to document them. One of the most interesting results of this effort is a 45-minute video, released in November 2000.
Video Footage
The video, Sila Alangotok: Inuit Observations on Climate Change offers a visual record of several environmental changes. It is an oral testimony of information handed down by Inuit through time. To make it, scientists and researchers accompanied Inuit on their daily hunting and fishing treks.
The locals tell stories of how food sources for both animals and people have become less accessible. The reduction in sea ice, and the thinning of ice, has led to increased difficulties in hunting seal for food. Seal depend on ice: they give birth and nurse their pups on the surface.
The Inuit also speak of the thawing of permafrost, permanently frozen ground. They say warm temperatures are enabling new species, such as robins, barn swallows and salmon, to adapt to their habitat.
In a report published by IISD, Rosemarie Kuptana, Sachs Harbour resident and former president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, explains the significance of using the aboriginal perspective in understanding climate change in the Banks Island. She says:
'Traditional Inuit knowledge about the world around us – like the weather, the animals, the migration patterns, the changes that we've seen – this is the knowledge that has been accumulated over many, many centuries. It's oral tradition: it's scientific knowledge. It's our scientific knowledge.'
The video hopes to increase a global awareness on the problems the Inuit face, resulting from climate change.
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| No Word For Robin |
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The programme, No Word For Robin: Climate Change In The Canadian Arctic, was produced by CBC Radio.
Producer Bob Carty travelled from the glaciers of the Yukon, to the eroded shores of Tuktoyaktuk, to the tundra of Banks Island to document the observations of locals and scientists about the effects of climate change in Canada's Northwest Territories.
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| Kyoto Protocol |
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Recently, US President George W. Bush rejected the Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement designed to curb climate change.
The protocol encourages industrial countries to cut greenhouse emissions. But Bush said he opposed controlling emissions from power plants.
As the US is responsible for 25% of all global emissions, Bush's decision seriously hinders the implementation of the protocol.
Chris Flavin of Worldwatch Institute in Washington, DC, explains:
'Nearly half of the total increase in global carbon dioxide emissions since 1990 has come from the US –exceeding the combined emissions growth of China, India, Africa and Latin America.'
In a report published in 1998 by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the main greenhouse gas emitted through human activities in the US is carbon dioxide. Its largest source is fossil fuel combustion.
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