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Arctic Climate Impacts: Environmental Injustice in Canada and the United States

2007; Routledge; Volume: 12; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13549830701657414

1469-6711

Sarah F. Trainor, F. Stuart Chapin, Henry P. Huntington, David Natcher, Gary P. Kofinas,

Climate change and permafrost

Abstract The current and projected future physical impacts of climate change are most extreme in the northern latitudes. The indigenous peoples in the North American arctic and sub-arctic rely on the availability of natural resources in mixed subsistence economies for nutritional and cultural survival and thus experience disproportionate burdens with respect to our changing climate. Arctic climate impacts exemplify how global phenomena and activities can significantly affect people locally in remote regions. These impacts are largely consistent throughout the region, irrespective of national boarders; however, indigenous peoples in Canada are better positioned than those in the United States to shape policy in a way that would ensure their adaptation to climate change. Political and industrial activity on national and global scales can have significant environmental, social and cultural repercussions on the local scale in remote areas. Remedies for environmental injustice will thus require strong cross-scale political and institutional linkages. Acknowledgements We thank anonymous reviewers for their careful reading and helpful suggestions. Funding for this project came from United States National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Polar Programs #0328282. Notes 1. Exceptions include Nishioka Citation(1999) and the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, . 2. Even with this commitment, Longergan notes that 1998 Canadian emissions were 13.5% higher than in 1990 and continue to rise: Lonergan Citation(2004). 3. (accessed 28 July 2006). 4. (accessed 15 September 2005, but no longer available). See links at (accessed 7 August 2006). 5. Just over 30% of the Canadian population lives in the northern latitudes (Yukon Territory [YT], Northwest Territories [NWT] and Nunivut) and indigenous peoples comprise only 3% of total Canadian population. However, more than 50% of the people who live in the Canadian arctic and sub-arctic are indigenous (Inuit, American Indian or Metis). In the United States, roughly 1% of the total population is American Indian or Alaskan Native. Indigenous people in Alaska comprise 16% of the population state-wide and 21% of the population in the arctic and sub-arctic. 2000 US Census, . This figure includes the urban area of the Fairbanks North Star Borough and is therefore comparable with the Canadian statistics, which include major population centers. If the urban centre of the Fairbanks North Star Borough is excluded, 74 of the population in the Alaskan arctic and sub-arctic are American Indian or Alaskan Native. We take the arctic and sub-arctic regions in Alaska to include the North Slope Borough, the Northwest Arctic Borough and the Yukon–Koyukuk census area. . 6. (accessed 15 October 2005). However, in spite of these legal and constitutional improvements, aboriginal people in Canada still face elevated rates of infant mortality, infectious disease (e.g. tuberculosis and hepatitis), youth suicide, overcrowding and unemployment (Hoffman, Citation2002). 7. Alaska v. Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government. There are two tribes in Alaska that did not agree to relinquish land claims in exchange for corporate status under The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANSCA) and therefore own land fee-simple in reservation status. These are the Venetie and Metlakatla reservations.