Climate change a threat to Indigenous cultures

Excessive flooding, endangered animals, exotic insect migration and the onset of erratic weather patterns are the things Hollywood films are made of. But for three Indigenous nations from different regions of the globe, these occurrences are very real and gradually altering their way of life.
On Nov. 23, academics, environmentalists, researchers and a concerned public gathered for a symposium on climate change and Indigenous perspectives at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The first panel, Shifting Tides: Indigenous Responses to Global Climate Change, had representatives from Alaska, the South Pacific and Canada's Northwest Coast discussing regional differences and similarities, traditional Indigenous practices and the key issue that binds them-the dire consequences of climate change in their communities.
Larry Grant, an Elder from the Musqueam Nation in Vancouver, remembers when ponds would completely freeze over in the winter and seasonal salmon and eulachon runs were in abundance. From the podium, he spoke about global warming and the transformative effects it has had on the environment for coastal First Nation communities. From annual pine beetle infestations killing British Columbia forests to fierce and unyielding winter winds causing havoc on parks and affecting drinking water supplies, Grant said there has been a shift between natural ecological occurrences and the human-induced environmental changes we're experiencing. These transitions affect traditional First Nation hunting, gathering and harvesting methods and Grant says industry and humanity are to blame.
"Modern western industrial society, not knowing-or possibly not really caring-has not maintained balance between keystone species and predator species, creating an imbalance in how Mother Earth is interdependent," he said.
The failure of lucrative salmon runs in the Fraser river has not only prompted a wake-up call, causing the industry to recognize the effects of climate change, but in the past, it has also caused the First Nation fishery to become something of a political and economic scapegoat, Grant said. Talking about how climate change is resulting in a rise in ocean temperature and the negative effects that warmer water has on salmon spawning cycles, Grant said the resulting shortages in seasonal salmon stock has often led to misplaced accusations of poaching by Aboriginal people, "thus creating a misconception of immorality in Aboriginal peoples of Canada and perpetrating a negative stereotype of Aboriginals," he said.
According to Imogen Ingram, a Cook Island resident and spokesperson on sustainable development and climate change, British Columbia First Nations and Indigenous people of the Cook Islands have more in common than the Pacific Ocean.
Climate change is affecting both local sustenance patterns and economy in very drastic ways in the South Pacific. Ingram said 50 per cent of the gross domestic product in the Cook Islands is accrued through tourism and, due to flooding and hurricanes, tourism peaks and wanes during various seasons. This is nothing new, as seasonal storms are part and parcel of nature's transitions, however, over the years a gradual climb in the severity of such natural occurrences has been noted and shifts in the environment have been seen.
Ingram, who lives on the island of Rarotonga and is the president of the Cook Island Sustainability Alliance and a member of the Koutu Nui Council of hereditary chiefs, said that while the general public must take steps to combat global warming, it's in the best interests of big companies to fight global warming and climate change as well.
"If they (companies) pursue sustainable initiatives, it actually saves them money," Ingram said. The activist stressed the importance of talking in a language corporations would understand and said even putting a bug in the ear of big business regarding the frightening effects of climate change is a positive start.
"Even if it's just lip service. It's a big step along the way if companies realize climate change," she said. "The tide is changing and we're just about at the tipping point."
"All you have left to work with between the imbalance of power and money is persuasion," said Shaunna Morgan, senior manager for the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER). During the plenary session, Morgan said the best tool to combat global warming is public education and outreach, and that even small steps toward energy saving can bring about positive changes for the environment. Carpooling or using public transit, buying locally grown organic produce and better insulating your home are steps everyone can adopt into their daily life. Morgan said it is important to identify and prioritize climate change impacts so that mitigation and adaptation initiatives can be implemented. While climate change affects everyone, Morgan said rural communities will likely suffer most because of their sparse population and typically lower economy.
"Unique communities require unique decisions," Morgan said. "The idea that food and water only come from the store is a foreign one for many Indigenous communities." When global warming threatens community sustenance, changes must be made in order to adjust-especially in a culture so intrinsically linked to the land.
Imagine the Alaskan tundra melting and shrinking in size. Inuk youth and panelist Mona Belleau doesn't have to imagine- she is a first-hand witness to the gradual and potentially catastrophic changes occurring in her Arctic homeland. Global warming in the region has begun to disturb animal migration patterns and has brought an influx of new insects, foreign to the area. Although currently living in Quebec City, the 27-year-old environmentalist knows global warming is affecting her Indigenous people and their traditional sustenance harvest of caribou.
"Climate change not only affects weather patterns but the food that we eat," she said.
Because of unnatural environmental transformations being brought about by climate change, Belleau fears the health and traditional Indigenous knowledge of her people is at stake and adaptation is imperative.
"We live in a land where agriculture is impracticable and our dependency on hunting and fishing is essential to our survival," said Belleau. "Over the centuries we developed an intimate knowledge of our environment, allowing us to not only survive, but thrive in one of earth's harshest and most unforgiving climates. The survival of the Inuit people was based on how well we could adapt to such isolated and inhospitable environment. Today the Inuit are being forced to adapt once again. The impacts of global warming on Inuit social and cultural well-being are monumental," she said.
For Belleau, Grant and Ingram, adaptation in an ever-changing world is not just about coming to terms with realities their communities face regarding natural disasters and permafrost thaw; it is about finding a way to hold on to traditions and other Indigenous knowledge while reconciling with climate unpredictability.
"We must adapt to new realities and find tangible ways for aspects of our culture to survive in a rapidly changing environment where traditional knowledge is forced to adapt," Belleau said.
Documented through oral tradition and handed down through families, the way in which many Indigenous communities survive has much to do with their relationship to the land. When that land begins to transform and sustenance patterns lose their predictability, safety is at risk and Indigenous knowledge can be lost.
"The knowledge of our ancestors is in peril as the northern climate becomes much more unpredictable," Belleau said. "Inuit now fear that their traditional knowledge might not be as reliable as it was in the past and thus the lives of those who go out on the land are even more at risk."
There was urgency in the voices of guests and speakers at the symposium, as all stressed the need for action on global warming before it's too late. Action taken today will have a lasting impact on future generations, many of the speakers indicated, noting that the ecological damage the globe is currently experiencing is a byproduct of pollution created 50 years ago and emissions expelled into the atmosphere today will not show their extreme affect for half a century.