Impacts on Indigenous Peoples from Ecosystem Changes in the Arctic Ocean

Abstract

Indigenous peoples from all regions of the world depend upon the natural environment. Their rich and detailed traditional knowledge reflects and embodies a cultural and spiritual relationship with the land, ocean and wildlife. Human activity is changing the world’s climate and altering the natural environment to which Indigenous Peoples are so closely attached and on which they so heavily rely.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects an acceleration and deepening of the impacts and effects of climate change globally with potentially serious implications for the cultures, subsistence economies, health and futures of Indigenous Peoples. Climate change is particularly marked in high latitudes. The 2004 Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) prepared by the eight-nation Arctic Council with the assistance of six Arctic Indigenous Peoples Organizations projected severe and growing impacts in this region in coming decades with worldwide effects.

In a very real sense, Indigenous Peoples are on the front lines of climate change. They observe climate and environmental changes first-hand and use traditional knowledge and survival skills to adapt to these changes as they occur. Moreover, they do so at a time when their cultures and livelihoods are already undergoing significant changes due, in part, to the accelerated development of natural resources from their traditional territories.

Reflecting their position as “stewards” of the environment and drawing upon age-old traditional knowledge, Indigenous Peoples were among the first to call upon national governments, corporations and civil society to do more to protect the Earth and human society from climate change.