Arctic Peoples

by Clive Tesar

Canadian Inuit are opposing vigorous lobbying efforts to get the polar bear listed as “threatened” under the American Endangered Species Act. The US government has been considering the action since 2006. Now three conservation groups, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace are threatening to sue the US government to get it to proceed with the listing. Canadian Inuit say the environmentalists are taking aim at the wrong target.

Two organizations that represent Inuit in Canada are disagreeing with the tactic of using the polar bear to try to force the American government to take action on climate change. Duane Smith, the president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (Canada) says,

“I don’t see how listing it as threatened will complement the sustainability of the population. It is climate change that is the problem, not the sustainable hunting of polar bears.”

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By Clive Tesar

People from six villages, three on the Alaskan side of the Bering Strait, and three on the Russian side, are taking part in a ground-breaking monitoring program designed to track changes in the area. The Bering Sea Sub-Network (BSSN) will include the communities of Sand Point, Gambell, and Togiak in Alaska. They will be joined by Nikolskoye, Tymlat and Kanchalan in Russia. These sites provide broad coverage of the Bering Sea, and represent communities with a strong tradition of local and indigenous Knowledge.

This is a wonderful opportunity to draw on the wealth of knowledge possessed by Indigenous Peoples on both sides of the Bering Sea,

says Victoria Gofman, principal investigator of the BSSN.

What struck me as I travelled to the villages has how eager people were to share that knowledge, and to have an opportunity to do something about the changes that are affecting their communities.

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By Patricia Cochran and Taito Nakalevu

Three years ago, when a tsunami washed away the lives and livelihoods of people in South-east Asia, the rest of the world acted with commendable compassion. Tents, blankets and food were sent, reconstruction teams poured in, and people around the world sent millions of dollars to help. Now another devastating wave is threatening the lives and livelihoods of people globally - from the fringes of the Arctic to the Caribbean and the scattered islands of the South Pacific. This wave of global warming also brings devastation in its path, but it is moving so slowly that some people fail to recognize its destructive power. Arctic regions and small islands around the world are being hit hardest.
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by Clive Tesar

Reindeer herders from countries around the Arctic are meeting to trade knowledge and strategies for dealing with warming temperatures. The workshops are one branch of the Ealát Project, an initiative to look at the vulnerabilities of reindeer herders, and conduct research on how herders might adapt to climate change. Anders Oskal, Director of the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry says,

“Independent of what’s causing climate change, it’s happening now so while others may be discussing the causes, reindeer husbandry and indigenous societies need to work out strategies on how to cope with this issues. This project is supposed to be a contribution to that.”

Oskal hopes that at least six workshops will be held, covering the main herding regions: The Saami region (northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula); the four reindeer herding areas in Russia (Nenets, Yamal, Sakha/Yakutia, Chukotka) and Alaska (United States). The meetings will include people from a variety of different regions, so that they may share knowledge between them.
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by Clive Tesar

The United States Government is beginning to show signs that it understands the seriousness of climate change. A new Bill in the United States Senate backs an 80% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050. The Bill, sponsored by Senator Boxer, has attracted the support of democratic presidential hopefuls Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama.

A senior Senate staff official told a visiting delegation of Arctic Leaders,

We hope to be in a position to do something very aggressive on global warming when we have a new President. However, we still have a lot of difficult people, including two senators from Alaska who won’t agree.

The Arctic Leaders have been visiting Senators’ offices in Washington DC, for the past three days to persuade the Senators to back urgent action on climate change. The Leaders have stressed that they are not backing any particular Bill, or any particular US political party, but simply want to see the United States take any action that will start to stabilize temperatures in the Arctic.
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by Clive Tesar

Arctic leaders touring the United States with their eyewitness messages of climate change shared their stories with local Indigenous Peoples yesterday. The exchange came during a tour stop in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The audience at a public meeting in a Presbyterian church included local Anishnabe people, and also some descendants of Saami people who had come to hear Saami Council Vice President Olav Mathis Eira.

Clyde Belcourt, a local Anishnabe elder, spoke of the local impacts of climate change that Indigenous Peoples in Minnesota are seeing. He mentioned a drop in water levels that is affecting the spawning beds of local fish such as walleye. Even more importantly, the low water levels are threatening the habitat of the wild rice, a traditional crop that is not only economically important to local people, but also has great cultural significance. Read the rest of this entry »

by Clive Tesar

Arctic Leaders were given a standing ovation today after bringing their observations of climate change to a public meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas. The event, at the Clinton School of Public Service, was the first of several taking place across the United States in the next week.

The leaders were introduced by a local celebrity, Minnie Jean Brown. Brown was one of the students known as “the little Rock 9″, a group of black students who were the first in the state to defy racial segregation in schools. She recognized the similarity between the rights Arctic Peoples are fighting for, and her own fight for rights years ago.
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by Paul Kaludjak
What should the Canadian federal government do in the face of the continued American rejection of Canada’s assertion of sovereignty over the Northwest Passage? Inuit occupy and travel throughout the area that Washington claims to be international waters. We will be most affected if the passage is opened to shipping as a result of climate change.

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The AAC’s most recent newsletter is now available at Arctic Athabaskan Council Newsletter.

For those who wish to regularly receive the Arctic Athabaskan Council newsletter please contact:

Cindy Dickson
Executive Director
Arctic Athabaskan Council
cindy.dickson@cyfn.net

Arctic Council Ministerial meeting" id="image75" title="Indigenous Leaders at the Arctic Council Ministerial meeting" src="http://www.arcticpeoples.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/pp_salekhard.jpg" />

At the Arctic Council Ministerial meeting in [GP:Salekhard], Russia, Indigenous Leaders from the circumpolar Arctic region delivered strong messages to the Arctic Council .

Watch the statements here in their original languages. Russian/English transcripts will be added later.

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