Responding to Climate Change in Northern Communities: Impacts and Adaptations

Abstract

... My approach to the issue of adaptation in northern communities is based on my experience working with the community of Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories, and the project Inuit Observations of Climate Change (Riedlinger, 1999). The project is a collaborative research effort documenting Inuvialuit knowledge of climate change research. A secondary goal is to understand adaptive strategies used by the community to respond to climate change phenomena. Here, I describe how current climate-related environmental changes are affecting seasonal subsistence activity in Sachs Harbour and discuss how Inuvialuit are coping with such impacts.