Two regions in northern Canada will lead research to understand local non-economic losses from climate change as part of an international circumpolar project.
The Canadian research will focus on country food in the Arctic and Subarctic — such as marine mammals, caribou, polar bears, fish, birds, berries and eggs — and the strengths and knowledge of the people who rely on those food sources.
"Our environment is changing drastically. We have to adapt to it," says Igah Sanguya, principal investigator and co-lead for the research in the Qikiqtani region of Nunavut. Sanguya worked for decades as a community health representative in Clyde River and is an adjunct professor in the University of Alberta's School of Public Health.
"We will stay with our food, we have to, for future generations and for our overall health," Sanguya says.
"The elders said that there used to be so many caribou the land would look like it was moving," says principal investigator Tyanna Steinwand, manager of research operations and training for the Tłı̨chǫ Government in the Northwest Territories. "The land has always protected us. Now it's our turn to protect the land."
Entitled "Addressing Unavoidable Non-Economic Losses to Climate-Induced Events for Communities in the Arctic," the project is one of four in Canada to receive $4 million each over four years from the federal New Frontiers in Research Fund.
The team at the U of A's School of Public Health includes Sherilee Harper, professor and Canada Research Chair in Climate Change and Health; Susan Chatwood, professor and scientific director of the Institute for Circumpolar Health Research; research associates Amy Caughey and Sanguya based in Nunavut; and Tee Lim and Steinwand based in the Northwest Territories. Harper is a member of the U of A's Climate Change + Health Hub, and Chatwood is a member of the Women and Children's Health Research Institute.
The international circumpolar research project is led by NordForsk, based in Norway, in partnership with communities in Finland, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, the United States and Canada.
Despite the focus on "loss" to climate change, Caughey says the work will focus on the significant strengths of Indigenous peoples and food systems.
"Inuit have expressed that country food is central to food sovereignty and to health," Caughey says. "Indigenous food systems and the knowledge that exists within them are incredible strengths to support community health and well-being in the face of climate change."
Sharing knowledge and new skills
Many international discussions about climate change have focused on how to compensate developing nations for their monetary loss and damages to aid in rebuilding after storms, flooding and other natural disasters. But it's much harder to understand broader changes to culture, language, ways of life and biodiversity, says Harper, who is Canada's only representative on the 34-member Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change bureau.
"These non-economic losses are things we can't put a dollar value on, but communities value them just as much or possibly even more. They are things we can't recover from climate change," she says.
Harper notes that Arctic regions are warming three to four times faster than the rest of the planet, and access to traditional food sources is becoming a challenge in some regions because of changes to the land, ice and water.
Changes to country food access affect not only the nutritional status of northern people, but also food sharing practices, hunting and preparation methods, and mental health.
"It's about the pride and skills and knowledge that went into hunting that food and taking the food home and having it prepared and sharing it," Harper says.
"We are seeing first-hand changes in the climate, the weather, and changes that are happening within our region with animals and the environment," says Sanguya.
One goal of the project will be to share knowledge between communities about country food preparation and preservation (similar to a video the team has already put out on how to cook polar bear meat).
"As northern and Indigenous communities, we are some of the most adversely impacted by these issues in the world," says Steinwand. "This important study will contribute to building Tłı̨chǫ capacity for understanding the serious challenges that climate change impacts and declining barren ground caribou populations pose for our communities."
The research project will highlight the knowledge, perspectives, observations and experiences of northern and Indigenous communities at the forefront of climate change in the Arctic and Subarctic.
Harper suggests there is much for the rest of the world to learn about climate adaptation from northern communities that are already facing so many changes. "We can learn a lot from the leadership of northern people in the climate change discussion," she says.
