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Relevance of a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area to the Bering Strait Region: a Policy Analysis Using Resilience-Based Governance Principles
(2015) Hillmer-Pegram, Kevin; Robards, Martin D.
"The Bering Strait, separating the North American and Asian continents, is a productive social–ecological marine system that is vulnerable to increasing maritime traffic. In other parts of the world, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), an agency of the United Nations, has designated similar marine systems as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) in an effort to protect vulnerable resources from international shipping. We present information about the 14 existing PSSAs around the world and the political process by which designation is achieved. We examine specific characteristics of the Bering Strait system that are relevant to a PSSA application; these include vulnerable resources such as marine mammals and their contribution to the food and cultural security of indigenous communities, threats to these resources from shipping activities, and the viable mitigation options to reduce these threats. We then use five criteria derived from empirical research on resilience-based governance to analyze whether a PSSA designation would promote the resilience of marine mammal populations and indigenous communities to increased maritime activities. Despite the elusiveness of a definitive answer, we conclude that although the designation is not a perfect fit from a theoretical standpoint, it still holds the potential to benefit marine mammals and indigenous communities in terms of resilience. We conclude by identifying critical challenges and trade-offs that practitioners would need to negotiate when attempting to apply theoretical governance principles via real-world policy tools."
Research Plan for the Study of Rapid Change, Resilience and Vulnerability in Social-Ecological Systems of the Arctic
(2005) Kofinas, Gary P.
"How can research best address the challenges of Arctic sustainability in a world of rapid change? What determines the limitations of adaptation when a system is approaching a critical threshold? What are the social-ecological consequences when critical thresholds are crossed and new conditions emerge? How best do we frame the analysis of vulnerabilities? How can we best structure human institutions and social organization to build resilience and facilitate adaptation in conditions of rapid change? And how should Arctic residents engage in this research? These questions reflect a broad set of issues that motivated our group to gather in Vancouver, Canada this past April, 2005, and begin developing an international research plan to explore issues of rapid change and sustainability through an analysis of resilience and vulnerability of Arctic social-ecological systems. We are one of several working groups preparing for the upcoming Second International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP-2), scheduled to take place in Copenhagen in November 2005. Our draft research plan, modified for this issue of The Digest, is intended to stimulate discussion among the northern researcher community and arctic residents about the key themes worthy of study. "Our definition of the Arctic is aimed at capturing the social, economic, political, and ecological processes that are critical properties for the functioning of the Arctic System. Thus, we do not limit the definition of Arctic to more restrictive definitions, such as that region north of the Arctic Circle or north of tree line, but view it as a region integrated within the Global System."
Arctic Change and Coastal Communities: Overview of the Coastal Zone Canada Conference, Tuktoyaktuk, August 2006
(2008) Mathias, Jack; Ayles, Burton; Blakney, Sherrie; Charles, Tony; Fast, Helen
"This special issue of Arctic represents the output from a conference sponsored by the Coastal Zone Canada Association and organized in large part by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. A number of sponsors also contributed to the success of the conference. The conference, entitled 'Arctic Change and Coastal Communities,' was held from 12 to 16 August 2006 in the town of Tuktoyaktuk in the western Canadian Arctic. This overview was compiled from statements made at the conference by presenters and participants and does not necessarily represent the views of the authors."
Mammal Distribution in Nunavut: Inuit Harvest Data and COSEWIC's Species at Risk Assessment Process
(2012) Kowalchuk, Karen A.; Kuhn, Richard G.
"The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assesses risk potential for a species by evaluating the best available information from all knowledge sources including Aboriginal traditional knowledge (ATK). Effective application of ATK in this process has been challenging. Inuit knowledge (IK) of mammal distribution in Nunavut is reflected, in part, in the harvest spatial data from two comprehensive studies: the Use and Occupancy Mapping (UOM) Study conducted by the Nunavut Planning Commission (NPC) and the Nunavut Wildlife Harvest Study (WHS) conducted by the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB). The geographic range values of extent of occurrence (EO) and area of occupancy (AO) were derived from the harvest data for a selected group of mammals and applied to Phase I of the COSEWIC assessment process. Values falling below threshold values can trigger a potential risk designation of either endangered (EN) or threatened (TH) for the species being assessed. The IK values and status designations were compared with available COSEWIC data. There was little congruency between the two sets of data. We conclude that there are major challenges within the risk assessment process and specifically the calculation of AO that contributed to the disparity in results. Nonetheless, this application illustrated that Inuit harvest data in Nunavut represents a unique and substantial source of ATK that should be used to enrich the knowledge base on arctic mammal distribution and enhance wildlife management and conservation planning."
Adapting to Climate Change: Social-Ecological Resilience in a Canadian Western Arctic Community
(2002) Berkes, Fikret; Jolly, Dyanna
"Human adaptation remains an insufficiently studied part of the subject of climate change. This paper examines the questions of adaptation and change in terms of social-ecological resilience using lessons from a place-specific case study. The Inuvialuit people of the small community of Sachs Harbour in Canada's western Arctic have been tracking climate change throughout the 1990s. We analyze the adaptive capacity of this community to deal with climate change. Short-term responses to changes in land-based activities, which are identified as coping mechanisms, are one component of this adaptive capacity. The second component is related to cultural and ecological adaptations of the Inuvialuit for life in a highly variable and uncertain environment; these represent long-term adaptive strategies. These two types of strategies are, in fact, on a continuum in space and time. This study suggests new ways in which theory and practice can be combined by showing how societies may adapt to climate change at multiple scales. Switching species and adjusting the 'where, when, and how' of hunting are examples of shorter-term responses. On the other hand, adaptations such as flexibility in seasonal hunting patterns, traditional knowledge that allows the community to diversity hunting activities, networks for sharing food and other resources, and intercommunity trade are longer-term, culturally ingrained mechanisms. Individuals, households, and the community as a whole also provide feedback on their responses to change. Newly developing co-management institutions create additional linkages for feedback across different levels, enhancing the capacity for learning and self-organization of the local inhabitants and making it possible for them to transmit community concerns to regional, national, and international levels."
Possible Effects of Climate Warming on Selected Populations of Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus) in the Canadian Arctic
(2006) Stirling, I.; Parkinson, C. L.
"Polar bears depend on sea ice for survival. Climate warming in the Arctic has caused significant declines in total cover and thickness of sea ice in the polar basin and progressively earlier breakup in some areas. Inuit hunters in the areas of four polar bear populations in the eastern Canadian Arctic (including Western Hudson Bay) have reported seeing more bears near settlements during the open-water period in recent years. In a fifth ecologically similar population, no changes have yet been reported by Inuit hunters. These observations, interpreted as evidence of increasing population size, have resulted in increases in hunting quotas. However, long-term data on the population size and body condition of polar bears in Western Hudson Bay, as well as population and harvest data from Baffin Bay, make it clear that those two populations at least are more likely to be declining, not increasing. While the ecological details vary in the regions occupied by the five different populations discussed in this paper, analysis of passive-microwave satellite imagery beginning in the late 1970s indicates that the sea ice is breaking up at progressively earlier dates, so that bears must fast for longer periods during the open-water season. Thus, at least part of the explanation for the appearance of more bears near coastal communities and hunting camps is likely that they are searching for alternative food sources in years when their stored body fat depots may be depleted before freeze-up, when they can return to the sea ice to hunt seals again. We hypothesize that, if the climate continues to warm as projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), then polar bears in all five populations discussed in this paper will be increasingly food-stressed, and their numbers are likely to decline eventually, probably significantly so. As these populations decline, problem interactions between bears and humans will likely continue, and possibly increase, as the bears seek alternative food sources. Taken together, the data reported in this paper suggest that a precautionary approach be taken to the harvesting of polar bears and that the potential effects of climate warming be incorporated into planning for the management and conservation of this species throughout the Arctic."
Water and Ice-Related Phenomena in the Coastal Region of the Beaufort Sea: Some Parallels between Native Experience and Western Science
(2008) Carmack, Eddy; MacDonald, Robie
"Information gained through Native experience is combined here with scientific measurements to describe aspects of the wintertime oceanography of the Eskimo Lakes and Mackenzie River delta regions of the Canadian Beaufort Sea. The experiences of Jimmy Jacobson, a Tuktoyaktuk elder who lived in this region for over 70 years, were used as the basis for scientific planning and measurement. We focus on phenomena of special relevance to winter travel and fishing in four specific examples of Native insight guiding scientific inquiry. First, we examine local knowledge of ice characteristics and fish abundance in terms of tidal dispersion and its effect on mixing patterns during winter. Second, we relate the maintenance of a small ice-free area, used by caribou as a salt lick, to the vertical heat flux associated with flow through narrow channels. Third, we look at potentially dangerous episodes of overflooding of snow and ice in the nearshore zone in midwinter, caused by strong westerly winds, through the analysis of oxygen isotope distributions in ice cores. Fourth, we discuss the important influence of wind direction on ice conditions, lead formation, and brine production in semi-enclosed coastal bays. Finally, we note certain circulation features of ecological significance relevant to concerns about development and the transport of pollutants. We conclude that by not requiring agreement between indigenous knowledge and Western science, or ranking one above the other, we can realize the values of each approach. Specifically, indigenous knowledge can provide direction to scientific inquiry, while Western science can be used to measure, model, and predict where development or change might have the most serious impact."
Framework for Assessing the Vulnerability of Communities in the Canadian Arctic to Risks Associated with Climate Change
(2004) Ford, J. D.; Smit, B.
"Adaptation to climate change is recognized as an important policy issue by international bodies such as the United Nations and by various national governments. Initiatives to identify adaptation needs and to improve adaptive capacity increasingly start with an assessment of the vulnerability of the system of interest, in terms of who and what are vulnerable, to what stresses, in what way, and what capacity exists to adapt to changing risks. Notwithstanding the scholarship on climate change itself, there are few studies on the nature of Arctic communities vulnerability to climate-change risks. We review existing literature on implications of climate change for Arctic communities, develop a conceptual model of vulnerability, and present an analytical approach to assessing climate hazards and coping strategies in Arctic communities. Vulnerability is conceptualized as a function of exposure to climatic stresses and the adaptive capacity to cope with these stresses. The analytical framework employs place-specific case studies involving community residents and integrates information from multiple sources, both to document current exposures and adaptations and to characterize future exposures and adaptive capacity."
Sustainability of High Arctic Ponds in a Polar Desert Environment
(2010) Abnizova, Anna; Young, Kathy L.
"Arctic wetland environments are sensitive to ongoing climate change as seen by the recent loss of lakes and ponds in southern Alaska, Siberia, and northern Ellesmere Island, Canada. A clearer picture of the mechanisms accounting for these losses or the persistence of ponds is presently required. To better understand and quantify the hydrologic processes that are leading to the sustainability or demise of High Arctic ponds, a detailed study was conducted during the summer seasons of 2005 and 2006 at Somerset Island, Nunavut (72?43' N, 94?15' W). A water balance framework that quantifies water inputs, losses, and storage was employed on four ponds situated in three broad geomorphic areas (coastal, bedrock, and glacial terrain, which includes plateau and moraine). The initial snow cover amount influenced the water level pattern for the summer season. Large end-of-winter snow accumulations in the deep Bedrock pond ensured large initial water storage and seasonal sustainability despite variable climatic conditions and a coarse substrate, which encouraged subsurface outflow. Connectivity to a stream draining an upland area and a melting late-lying snowbed nearby allowed the small Moraine pond to maintain stable water levels throughout both years. Sandy soils typical of the Coastal and Plateau ponds favored seepage and subsurface water losses, leading to desiccation of these ponds during dry periods. Lateral water losses from the Coastal pond were enhanced by the presence of a downslope frost crack that formed a steep hydraulic gradient with the pond. High initial snowfall and substantial rain maintain pond water levels, but in years with low snowfall and dry conditions, ponds are vulnerable to disappearance unless a range of dependable hydrological linkages exists."
Total Environment of Change: Impacts of Climate Change and Social Transitions on Subsistence Fisheries in Northwest Alaska
(2012) Moerlein, Katie J.; Carothers, Courtney
"Arctic ecosystems are undergoing rapid changes as a result of global climate change, with significant implications for the livelihoods of Arctic peoples. In this paper, based on ethnographic research conducted with the Iñupiaq communities of Noatak and Selawik in northwestern Alaska, we detail prominent environmental changes observed over the past twenty to thirty years and their impacts on subsistence-based lifestyles. However, we suggest that it is ultimately insufficient to try to understand how Arctic communities are experiencing and responding to climate change in isolation from other stressors. During interviews and participant observation documenting local observations of climatic and related environmental shifts and impacts to subsistence fishing practices, we find the inseparability of environmental, social, economic, cultural, and political realms for community residents. Many of our informants, who live in a mixed economy based on various forms of income and widespread subsistence harvesting of fish and game, perceive and experience climate change as embedded among numerous other factors affecting subsistence patterns and practices. Changing lifestyles, decreasing interest by younger generations in pursuing subsistence livelihoods, and economic challenges are greatly affecting contemporary subsistence patterns and practices in rural Alaska. Observations of climate change are perceived, experienced, and articulated to researchers through a broader lens of these linked lifestyle and cultural shifts. Therefore, we argue that to properly assess and understand the impacts of climate change on the subsistence practices in Arctic communities, we must also consider the total environment of change that is dramatically shaping the relationship between people, communities, and their surrounding environments."

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