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Article Excerpt
ABSTRACT. Arctic communities are recently reporting warmer and shorter winters, which have implications for the ice season and, consequently, on the access to local territories and resources by members of these communities. These climatic shifts are resulting in increased risks for travel during the winter season associated with less stable and thinner ice. An integrated community-based monitoring (ICBM) program was developed in Nunavik to generate adaptation tools to support safe access to land and resources and to enhance local adaptive capacity through participation in community-based monitoring activities. The Nunavik ICBM approach brings together partners (northern communities, Canadian universities, and various organizations) that have different perspectives on the issues surrounding land and resources in Nunavik. The ICBM project also brings together traditional knowledge and scientific knowledge, linking data collected through semi-structured interviews, local ethnocartographic interviews, and ice-monitoring activities with data gathered at weather stations. The partnership-based Nunavik ICBM program dealing with territory and resource access is an example of communities and scientists working together to improve our understanding of climate change impacts in the North, their importance for aboriginal people, and the ways in which an integrated, cooperative research process can develop local adaptive capacity.
Key words: adaptation, climate change, ice monitoring, integrated community-based monitoring, semi-structured interviews, northern Quebec, scientific knowledge, traditional knowledge
RESUME. Les communautes arctiques rapportent depuis quelques annees des hivers plus chauds et plus courts qui ont des implications sur la saison de glace et par consequent sur faeces au territoire et aux ressources locales par les membres de ces communautes. Ces conditions climatiques out comme consequence d' augmenter les risques lots des voyages hivemaux en raison de glaces instables et plus minces. Un programme integre de surveillance des glaces (PISG) a ete developpe au Nunavik pour produire des outils d' adaptation visant a soutenir faeces securitaire au territoire et aux ressources et pour augmenter la capacite d'adaptation locale par la participation communautaire aux activites de surveillance. L' approche du PISG rassemble plusieurs partenaires (les communautes nordiques, universites canadiennes et differents organismes) qui s' interessent particulierement aux questions d' acces au territoire et aux ressources au Nunavik et y apportent des perspectives variees. Le projet du PISG integree le savoir traditionnel et le savoir scientifique utilisant plusieurs sources de donnees (provenant des entrevues semi-structurees, des entrevues ethno-cartographiques locales, de la surveillance de glace et des donnees meteorologiques). Le PISG est un exemple de partenariat entre les communautes nordiques et les scientifiques qui permet de mieux comprendre less impacts des changements climatiques en cours dans le nord, leur importance sur les peuples autochtones et la facon dont la capacite d' adaptation locale peut etre developpee par une recherche integree et cooperative.
Mots cles: adaptation, changement climatique, surveillance de glace, suivi communautaire integre, entrevues semi-structurees, Quebec nordique, savoir scientifique, savoir traditionnel
INTRODUCTION
Trail networks in Nunavik and northern Quebec are very important for local populations. They provide links between the communities in a region where no road network exists and communities are accessible only by plane or by boat. Trails are used to conduct traditional activities such as hunting, fishing, and trapping, which remain important for economic, cultural, and nutritional reasons (Myers et al., 2005; Van Oostdam et al., 2005). Climate change has begun to affect the timing and security of individuals' access to local environments and key food resources (Furgal et al., 2002; Lafortune et al., 2004), and the changes observed in this region also constitute critical social and economic issues for northern Quebec residents. In response to these changes, an integrated community-based monitoring (ICBM) program is being developed, and it is helping local populations to cope with climatic change and maintain traditional harvesting activities.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) reported that climate change has already started to occur in the polar regions. Change is resulting in warmer temperatures, mainly in winter, the impacts of which can be seen in the decreasing extent and thickness of sea ice, the melting of permafrost, increased coastal erosion, and changes in the distribution and abundance of key northern species. Moreover, the IPCC (2007) projects that this region will be affected by some of the largest and most rapid changes of any region in the world, which will have important consequences for both environmental and human systems in the North. Most climate models for the 21st century forecast increases in precipitation and temperature for the Arctic, especially during autumn and winter (ACIA, 2005).
In Nunavik, the 20th century was the warmest overall to date (Lavoie and Payette, 1992; Overpeck et al., 1997), but the significant warming trend observed elsewhere in the North occurred here only in the past 10 years. Some studies even observed a cooling trend in the region before that period (e.g., Allard et al., 1995). However, the warmer temperatures experienced since the mid-1990s have already had consequences for the environment (Allard et al., 2004). Local populations also report warmer and shorter winters (Lafortune et al., 2004; Community of Kangiqsujuaq et...
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