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Sunday 05.02.2012

Arctic affected by climate change, indigenous summit hears

Delegates listened to leaders from Greenland, Russia, Scandinavia and Alaska talk about how global warming is changing their lives.

On Monday morning, hundreds of delegates listened to leaders from Greenland, Russia, Scandinavia and Alaska talk about how global warming is changing their lives in the Arctic, reports the Anchorage Daily News.

The session was translated into several languages, including French, Russian and Spanish.



Gunn-Britt Retter, with the Finland-based Saami Council, talked about how her nomadic people, who herd reindeer in Scandinavian countries, are building up their own expertise to address changing animal migrations, longer growing seasons and the appearance of new pests that interfere with reindeer herding.

She said the Saami are also scrutinizing recent actions by governments and industries undertaken in response to climate change, such as building wind farms and biofuel plants. Like climate change itself, these projects also change the land used by indigenous people, she said.

The Saami created their own international study group, called Ealát, to maintain their reindeer-herding culture in spite of changing weather patterns that make it more difficult for reindeer to find food, she said.

Aqqaluk Lynge, the president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council in Greenland, shared observations he gathered from Inuit people in Alaska, Canada, Russia and his country: Arctic villages are crumbling due to the melting of permafrost and increased coastal erosion. Traditional food caches dug into the icy ground are melting. Water supplies have become contaminated, he said.

Melting permafrost and other consequences of climate change make it more difficult for Inuit to live their traditional lives; that has led them to work together on a plan to address food and sanitation in the Arctic, he said.

Inuit are also watching oil, gas and mining firms take a greater interest in the Arctic due to the rapid retreat of sea ice, he said.

Even if these industries develop the Arctic, they will not be able to compensate for the social impact that climate change is having on Inuit health and well-being, he said.

His organization raised more than $1 million over the past two years to bring indigenous leaders from Africa, Asia, the Arctic, the Caribbean, Latin America, North America and the Pacific islands to this week's summit.

The council said it hopes to publish a joint statement Friday that it will provide to the United Nations, which is hosting key international negotiations on climate change in December.