Adaptations - Start now

Canada’s Northern communities are particularly susceptible to climate change because of their high dependence on the environment. Many communities have begun making adaptations to their lifestyle and will need to continue doing this in the future. The adaptations that they have or will have to make are far reaching and are likely to impact many parts of their lives.

However, it isn’t just up to the communities to make the adaptations; it is also the obligation of their government and the rest of the international community to help those who are feeling the first effects of climate change.

Some of the changes that will need to be made are summarised in the paper by Ford et al.(2010). They are wide ranging and I have detailed them in the table below.

Factor	Adaptations
Land Skills	Preservation and enhancement of skills through education programmes. Changing the current attitudes of younger generations towards harvesting.
Wildlife Resources	Governments and Northern Communities to co’-manage the wildlife in order to reduce current and predicted conflict between communities and with the government.
Search and Rescue	Give support and technology to the communities so that they can enhance their search and rescue operations.
Infrastructure	Invest in engineering structures to protect existing infrastructure. Identify sites at particular risk and plan to avoid future development near at risk areas.
Harvesting	Develop support mechanisms and provide economic support to give the ability to purchase extra equipment.

I believe that it is very important to let the communities ‘help themselves’. By this I mean that whilst funds and technology should be available to them, nothing should be forced upon the communities.

It is important to remember that many of the Northern communities only recently went through huge social changes. In the twentieth century they have seen the imposition of the western government, the introduction of the waged economy, legal system, hunting regulations and compulsory schooling (Ford, 2009). All of these factors have led to ‘chronic problems’ (Ford, 2009) within many communities including a high suicide rate and substance abuse.

It is with these current problems that the communities have to make further changes and adaptations to their livelihoods. It is important to start now in order to mitigate as many effects of climate change as possible and because social and cultural change within these communities is likely to take some time. 

Past Adaptations

I was hoping that in this blog post I could discuss at length the adaptations that had been made by Northern Communities in the past, particularly during the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age. However, there seems to be very limited literature discussing the adaptations that the population must have made.

The Medieval Warm Period is generally agreed to have occurred between 1000-1300 A.D. During this period in history, when the temperature was up to 2C above average, it is said that wine-making grapes were grown in England and the Scandinavian tree line was up to 100-200m higher than today (Crowley and Lowry, 2000). This was closely followed by the Little Ice Age from 16^th – mid 19^th Century, with a drop of temperature by 0.6C (Mann, 2002) .

Both of these time periods are of specific interest to me, in order to understand the adaptations that must have taken place in the communities of Northern Canada.

The Dorset Culture lived in the Canadian Arctic until 1500 A.D. when they essentially became extinct. It is said that they had trouble adapting to the temperature of the Medieval Warm Period and that they were driven out by the Thule.

The warming period reduced the annual extent of sea ice across central and eastern parts of the Canadian Arctic (Wenzel, 2009). This created a larger space of open water which then allowed for the arrival of bowhead and presumably other whales (Wenzel, 2009). The Thule culture, who originated from Alaska then followed their main food resource across into Canada. The Thule culture quickly displaced the Dorset Culture. The reasons for the demise of the Dorset Culture is unclear, however it is thought that they were unable to adapt to changes in wildlife and climate (Rigby). The Dorset culture are still the subject of popular folklore tales told by Inuit today (Rigby).

However, it is interesting to look at the adaptations of the Thule culture. They arrived in the ‘warm period’ and as the climate transitioned into the Little Ice Age, the Thule culture had to adapt their whole way of life. I’ve summarized the changes that occurred and the adaptations that they had to make.

During Medieval Warm Period	During Little Ice Age
Whalebone and boulder dwellings	Igloos
Large Thule villages	Smaller, extended family encampments of 20 or so people
Winter food security – harvesting 20 – 30 tonne whales	Hunting of smaller, prey species e.g. caribou, seals and Arctic char
Whale blubber for fuel and bone for hunting	Some whale blubber but from smaller whales
Fairly sedentary lifestyle	Less sedentary lifestyle – the resources they relied upon were smaller, highly mobile and seasonally restricted

(Wenzel, 2009)

The climate transition that the Thule culture went through demonstrated their ability to adapt. The modern day Inuit people descend directly from the Thule and they have already begun to demonstrate their adaptive capacity. The Dorset culture were unable to adapt to changes and this saw the eventual extinction of their population.

Nice little quiz about permafrost!

Follow this link!

An interesting diagram to explain permafrost melting

Taken from NSF

Melting Permafrost

Permafrost is ground which is frozen and remains below 0C for two years or more. It can be classified into three groups:

-          Continuous permafrost: underlying 90-100% of the landscape

-          Discontinuous permafrost: 50-90%

-          Sporadic permafrost: 0-50%

It underlies up to 25% of the Northern Hemisphere and the map below (taken from International Permafrost Association) shows where it can be found.

Recent changes in temperature due to global warming have meant that melting of permafrost has begun. In the Northern communities this has had a great impact, particularly on transport and infrastructure.

When permafrost begins to melt it does so from the top- down. The active layer (the layer which isn’t frozen at the top) becomes larger. This thickening of the active layer causes previously frozen plant material to decompose and release CO2 and methane into the atmosphere. Secondly, the ice in the upper part of the permafrost becomes water leading to the ground surface subsiding (US Arctic Research, 2003). When this happens in or next to a human settlement, structural integrity of buildings, roads and pipelines are threatened.

This is the problem currently being faced by many communities in the North of Canada. The Arctic town of Salluit is considering relocating to escape the melting permafrost. Their newly built fire-station has sunk into the ground only a year after its completion. The roads and foundations of buildings have begun crumbling (The Canadian Press, 2010) 

“Sara Brown, director of community operational support with the Northwest Territories Association of Communities, says the costs to upgrade and fix buildings in Canada's North could range from $250 million to $420 million.” (CBC News, 2011) 

In an attempt to combat the problem The Canadian Standards Association has published guidelines for infrastructure design in permafrost regions. 

Direct and Indirect Health Impacts

Whilst research conducted on the health impacts of climate change in Northern Canadian communities is very limited and often still in the early stages, the research that has been done suggests wide and varying negative impacts.

Much of the research that has been undertaken has been done by talking to the communities and they have highlighted a range of health issues that they believe have been caused or worsened by climate change.

In the table below I have listed some of the most significant impacts:

Climate Change	Health Impact
Reduction in ozone layer	Increased UV exposure leading to higher risk of cancers and burns
Changes in ice	More accidents whilst hunting
Increasing incidences of storms and extreme weather events	More accidents
Increased air pollution	More respiratory illnesses especially in older people
Melting of permafrost	Higher risks of accident from collapsing buildings
Increased temperature extremes	More deaths because of extreme temperatures

Again, the capacity for the communities to cope and adapt to the changes is extremely important. However, when it comes to health effects, the communities are less likely to be able to adapt without help and advice from outside their communities.

References:
Furgal and Seguin (2006)

Ebi and McGregor (2008)

Taken from Cartoon Movement