Environmental Change, Indigenous Knowledge, and Subsistence on Alaska's North Slope
Authors' acknowledgements[1]
In this article we discuss an ongoing research project that links the
knowledge and experience of Iñupiat Eskimo elders, hunters, and berry
harvesters with scientific observations and methods, to better
understand environmental change on the Arctic Coastal Plain.[2]
Quantitative scientific questions about climate-related changes to the
Alaskan tundra are at the heart of our study, but this is also an
interview-intensive interdisciplinary project that utilizes mixed
methods and generates a range of "secondary" findings. Our primary goal
here is to provide a preliminary presentation of some of the important
qualitative data that has emerged from our interviews with Iñupiat
participants concerning climate change, subsistence, community values,
and women's roles. We also provide detail on the background, methods,
and objectives of our research, to help readers better understand the
situation in northern Alaska, and to present our methodology for
assessment by a multidisciplinary and multicultural audience.
Background: Arctic Geopolitics
People of the planet's northern regions are experiencing
extraordinary environmental changes that are not well known to those who
live in more temperate zones. For indigenous peoples whose subsistence
and cultural identities are deeply tied to their environment,
significant ecological change directly threatens basic welfare and
traditional ways of life. The present effects and further potential
impacts of climate change in the North have been recognized by the major
political bodies of the circumpolar region, such as the Inuit
Circumpolar Council and the Arctic Council, and by various international
agencies and environmental organizations. The World Wildlife
Foundation's International Arctic Programme, based in Oslo, Norway,
reports that:
Change is occurring on all arctic system levels,
impacting on physical systems such as atmosphere and oceans, sea ice and
ice sheets, snow and permafrost, as well as on biological systems such
as species and populations, food webs, ecosystem structure and function,
and on human societies. It is the breadth of impacts . . . that is adding
weight to the conclusion that there is hardly a component of the Arctic
that is not showing signs of change.[3]
And a recent draft document written by representatives of the United
Nations Environment Programme describes their position as:
Extremely concerned over the impact of climate
change on the polar regions, especially the Arctic which is experiencing
some of the most extreme and fast moving change evidenced anywhere, with
increasingly dramatic effects on Arctic peoples and biodiversity, as
well as significant global consequences, e.g., through contributions
from glaciers and the Greenland Ice Sheet to sea level rise . . ..[4]
The problems and challenges presented by the current situation in the
far North exist at multiple levels and dimensions of scale. For
indigenous and other local inhabitants, there are immediate needs for
information about the real impacts of climate and environmental changes
on health, food security, land stability, culture, and economic
development in the region, and on strategies for addressing new
conditions and challenges. Because particular effects are difficult to
anticipate, communities need as much information as possible about local
patterns of change and atypical occurrences, but most communities lack
resources for systematically tracking the impacts of climate change. At
another level, the region's ecological well-being impacts the entire
global climate system, and the risks posed by melting sea ice or the
potential release of large amounts of greenhouse gases currently
sequestered in the rich peat of the permafrost are matters of concern to
all. The Arctic is also a politically complex and historically
contentious region that includes extremely powerful member states (the
U.S., Canada, Russia, and Norway), as well as indigenous communities who
are powerful in their own right, and who share a strong circumpolar
identity due to close ethnic and linguistic relationships and common
concerns about native land rights and autonomy. Yet another dimension of
the region's significance is evident in its relationships to global
capital, for weighty multinational companies are also major economic
stakeholders there. At the same time, all of the relevant dimensions and
levels of impact are intermingled and enmeshed, and "local" actions have
"global" effects, and vice versa. It is perhaps not too dramatic to say
that the potential for serious conflict and unforeseeable complication
in a region such as this is tremendous.[5]
The situation in northernmost Alaska is particularly intense right
now. The region is rich in oil and natural gas, and the natural
environment there is already burdened by the impacts of industry and
development. With rapid and unpredictable climate change, the effects of
resource extraction are likely to be exacerbated. As a changing
environment presents new opportunities for further exploitation of
resources, such as offshore drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean, the
future possibilities become ever more concerning.[6]
Perhaps any situation so rife with complexity and competition also
has great potential as a site for innovative problem solving and
collaboration. Certainly the intensity and urgency of present realities
in the Arctic call for the best possible scientific and practical
knowledge to serve immediate and long-term needs. Regarding the need for
information about climate and environmental changes, the convergence of
local and global interests in evaluating and addressing the stability of
Arctic ecosystems creates a mandate for mutually beneficial
collaborations on both scientific and ethical grounds. Most practical
and scientific questions about climate change, anthropogenic impacts,
and ecological well-being require attention to local knowledge and
perspectives. Although theoretical and meta-level models and predictions
are useful, the severity of local impacts is determined by effects on
existing cultures, economies, and technologies, so micro-level
observations and analyses are necessary for predicting and mitigating
specific changes and impacts in any given location. For instance, in
northern Alaska warming conditions have already brought about decreased
summer sea and increased erosion of the Arctic coastline, but the
impacts on specific inland tundra regions vary over time and across
space. Some areas are becoming more wet and marshy in the spring and
summer, and others show evidence of drying.[7]
In addition, the impact
of regional climate change are difficult to separate from the direct
effects of local human activity. Warmer conditions in Alaska favor thaw
of near-surface permafrost, which results in widespread but differential
lowering of the ground surface, known as "thermokarst."[8] But local
thermokarst can also be induced by disruption of the tundra surface from
foot or vehicular traffic.[9]
Eyewitness, "on the ground," reports can
be crucial for tracking and interpreting specific changes and effects,
or for assessing the relationships among various effects, as such
specific details may not be accessible through scientific technologies
and methods. As the literature on indigenous knowledge and northern
climate change shows, native stakeholders' explanations of particular
events, processes, and rates of change also provide important hypotheses
for consideration, because local understandings include awareness of
historical or contextual factors unknown to researchers from the
"outside."[10]
Global climate change creates local and meta-level situations that
are quite precarious, and situations where local and scientific
communities need each other's help.[11]
It is therefore not surprising
that, in the Arctic and elsewhere, there is a small but growing body of
scientific work that incorporates local or indigenous knowledge and
perspectives, with hopes of improving scientific and ethical integrity
of research by integrating important information obtained through direct
observation, and by prioritizing the needs and interests of local
communities.[12]
Political organizations, researchers, journalists, and
artists have documented environmental change in the far North. General
consciousness-raising about the impacts of warming temperatures in polar
regions is a step toward the creation of more effective policies.[13]
But ongoing community-oriented research at local levels is necessary for
assessing and responding to the difficult and costly consequences of
changing weather patterns.
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