Travelling and hunting in a changing Arctic: assessing Inuit vulnerability to sea ice change in Igloolik, Nunavut

The observations of community members and instrumental records indicate changes in sea ice around the Inuit community of Igloolik, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. This paper characterizes local vulnerability to these changes, identifying who is vulnerable, to what stresses, and why, focusing on local and regional use of sea ice for the harvesting of renewable resources and travel. This analysis is coupled with instrumental and sea ice data to evaluate changing temperature/wind/sea ice trends over time, to complement local observations. We demonstrate the relationships between changing sea ice conditions/dynamics and harvesting activities (i.e. dangers and accessibility), with specific emphasis on ringed seal and walrus seasonal hunting, to illustrate current sea ice exposures that hunters are facing. Community members are adapting to such changes, as they have done for generations. However, current adaptive capacity is both enabled, and constrained, by social, cultural, and economic factors that manifest within the modern northern Hamlet. Enabling factors include the ability of hunters to manage or share the risks associated with sea ice travel, as well as through their flexibility in resource use, as facilitated by sophisticated local knowledge and land/navigational skills. Constraining factors include the erosion of land-based knowledge and skills, altered sharing networks, as well as financial and temporal limitations on travel/harvesting. The differential ability of community members to balance enabling and constraining factors, in relation to current exposures, comprises their level of vulnerability to sea ice change.     

Early to mid-Holocene Atlantic water influx and deglacial meltwater events, Beaufort Sea slope, Arctic Ocean

Holocene high-resolution cores from the margin of the Arctic Ocean are rare. Core P189AR-P45 collected in 405-m water depth on the Beaufort Sea slope, west of the Mackenzie River delta (70°33.03′N and 141°52.08′W), is in close vertical proximity to the present-day upper limit of modified Atlantic water. The 5.11-m core spans the interval between ∼6800 and 10,400 ¹⁴C yr B.P. (with an 800-yr ocean reservoir correction). The sediment is primarily silty clay with an average grain-size of 9 φ. The chronology is constrained by seven radiocarbon dates. The rate of sediment accumulation averaged 1.35 mm/yr. Stable isotopic data (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C) were obtained on the polar planktonic foraminifera Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (s) and the benthic infaunal species Cassidulina neoteretis. A distinct low-δ¹⁸O event is captured in both the benthic and planktonic data at ∼10,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P.—probably recording the glacial Lake Agassiz outburst flood associated with the North Atlantic preboreal cold event. The benthic foraminifera are dominated in the earliest Holocene by C. neoteretis, a species associated with modified Atlantic water masses. This species decreases toward the core top with a marked environmental reversal occurring ∼7800 ¹⁴C yr B.P., possibly coincident with the northern hemisphere 8200 cal yr B.P. cold event.     

Response of large benthic foraminifera to climate and local changes: Implications for future carbonate production

Large benthic foraminifera are major carbonate components in tropical carbonate platforms, important carbonate producers, stratigraphic tools and powerful bioindicators (proxies) of environmental change. The application of large benthic foraminifera in tropical coral reef environments has gained considerable momentum in recent years. These modern ecological assessments are often carried out by micropalaeontologists or ecologists with expertise in the identification of foraminifera. However, large benthic foraminifera have been under-represented in favour of macro reef-builders, for example, corals and calcareous algae. Large benthic foraminifera contribute about 5% to modern reef-scale carbonate sediment production. Their substantial size and abundance are reflected by their symbiotic association with the living algae inside their tests. When the foraminiferal holobiont (the combination between the large benthic foraminifera host and the microalgal photosymbiont) dies, the remaining calcareous test renourishes sediment supply, which maintains and stabilizes shorelines and low-lying islands. Geological records reveal episodes (i.e. late Palaeocene and early Eocene epochs) of prolific carbonate production in warmer oceans than today, and in the absence of corals. This begs for deeper consideration of how large benthic foraminifera will respond under future climatic scenarios of higher atmospheric carbon dioxide (pCO₂) and to warmer oceans. In addition, studies highlighting the complex evolutionary associations between large benthic foraminifera hosts and their algal photosymbionts, as well as to associated habitats, suggest the potential for increased tolerance to a wide range of conditions. However, the full range of environments where large benthic foraminifera currently dwell is not well-understood in terms of present and future carbonate production, and impact of stressors. The evidence for acclimatization, at least by a few species of well-studied large benthic foraminifera, under intensifying climate change and within degrading reef ecosystems, is a prelude to future host–symbiont resilience under different climatic regimes and habitats than today. This review also highlights knowledge gaps in current understanding of large benthic foraminifera as prolific calcium carbonate producers across shallow carbonate shelf and slope environments under changing ocean conditions.     

Population Belongs on the Johannesburg Agenda

The forthcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg (August 26-September 4, 2002) has been set by the United Nations to consider strategies toward sustainable development in all its dimensions. Hence, its mandate is broader than that of the Rio 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). Population issues have so far been discussed in a separate series of World Population Conferences (Bucharest 1974, Mexico City 1984, Cairo 1994). With no new World Population Conference scheduled for 2004 and Johannesburg having a mandate that is stated to explicitly include social and economic aspects, population as a key component of sustainable development should figure prominently on the Johannesburg agenda. Yet, after the third of four preparatory meetings for Johannesburg (which ended in New York on April 5th), consideration of population is completely absent. The reasons for this are not entirely clear. We assume that they have to do with the fear of entering into political controversies over abortion. We are concerned that, despite its broader mandate, in most countries inputs to Johannesburg are being prepared mainly by environment ministries who have little experience in dealing with population questions. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Inuit and Scientific Perspectives on the Relationship Between Sea Ice and Climate Change: The Ideal Complement?

Sea ice is influential in regulating energy exchanges between the ocean and the atmosphere, and has figured prominently in scientific studies of climate change and climate feedbacks. However, sea ice is also a vital component of everyday life in Inuit communities of the circumpolar Arctic. Therefore, it is important to understand the links between the potential impacts of climate change on Arctic sea ice extent, distribution, and thickness as well as the related consequences for northern coastal populations. This paper explores the relationship between sea ice and climate change from both scientific and Inuit perspectives. Based on an overview of diverse literature the experiences, methods, and goals which differentiate local and scientific sea ice knowledge are examined. These efforts are considered essential background upon which to develop more accurate assessments of community vulnerability to climate, and resulting sea ice, change. Inuit and scientific perspectives may indeed be the ideal complement when investigating the links between sea ice and climate change, but effective and appropriate conceptual bridges need to be built between the two types of expertise. The complementary nature of these knowledge systems may only be realized, in a practical sense, if significant effort is expended to: (i) understand sea ice from both Inuit and scientific perspectives, along with their underlying differences; (ii) investigate common interests or concerns; (iii) establish meaningful and reciprocal research partnerships with Inuit communities; (iv) engage in, and improve, collaborative research methods; and, (v) maintain ongoing dialogue.     

Community collaboration and climate change research in the Canadian Arctic

Research on climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation, particularly projects aiming to contribute to practical adaptation initiatives, requires active involvement and collaboration with community members and local, regional and national organizations that use this research for policy-making. Arctic communities are already experiencing and adapting to environmental and socio-cultural changes, and researchers have a practical and ethical responsibility to engage with communities that are the focus of the research. This paper draws on the experiences of researchers working with communities across the Canadian Arctic, together with the expertise of Inuit organizations, Northern research institutes and community partners, to outline key considerations for effectively engaging Arctic communities in collaborative research. These considerations include: initiating early and ongoing communication with communities, and regional and national contacts; involving communities in research design and development; facilitating opportunities for local employment; and disseminating research findings. Examples of each consideration are drawn from climate change research conducted with communities in the Canadian Arctic.