Issue 67
August 10, 2006

EnviroZine: Environmnent Canada's On-line Newsmagazine

You are here: EnviroZine > Issue 67 > Feature 1

From Yukon to Labrador: Understanding Northern Ecosystems

Working from an observation blind to study the feeding ecology of winter eiders. Photo: Grant Gilchrist – Click to enlarge

Canada's North spans an enormous area – from the snowmelt lakes and whitecapped mountains of the Yukon to the rugged, wind-sculpted coast of Labrador. This vast area, traversing the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Labrador, and the northern regions of Quebec, is extremely vulnerable to environmental changes – changes that are already having significant impacts on northern ecosystems, communities, and lifestyles.

A rapidly changing climate is altering the environment in a way never before seen in recorded history; major resource development projects are reshaping the landscape with a lasting footprint, and persistent contaminants from both local and distant sources are an ongoing concern.

The Northern Ecosystem Initiative (NEI), an Environment Canada program that addresses ecosystem health across the Canadian North, is engaging and supporting community and regional level organizations in shared efforts to address these concerns, by building their capacity to take action.

NEI focuses on incorporating a Western scientific approach with local and traditional knowledge and methods. "It's all part of a shifting of perspective and looking at other paths to knowledge – combining knowledge systems so we get a better perspective of what's going on," says Leslie Wilson of NEI.

Bridging the knowledge gap

Testing ice thickness, Photo: Grant Gilchrist – Click to enlarge

Climate change is happening at such an unprecedented rate that it is already affecting people in these northern communities. Aboriginal peoples rely on traditional knowledge to understand the weather and the best places and ways to hunt, fish, trap, and gather. Unpredictable weather, snow, and ice conditions have made travel dangerous and traditional activities uncertain in many areas of the Canadian North.

An NEI-supported project entitled Climate Change in Nunavik: Land and Resource Access Issues is researching climate change impacts on trail networks in four Northern Quebec communities. The studies are helping communities to adapt to the changes on trail networks to ensure safer and sustainable access to traditional land and resources. A similar project is also underway in the Central Arctic.

Working on a climate change project in Nunavik. Photo: Chris Furgal – Click to enlarge.

Climate models project that northern latitudes will experience more warming than anywhere else in the world. Comprehensive studies such as the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, to which many NEI-supported projects contributed, found that average temperatures in the Arctic over the past several decades have risen at almost twice the rate of the rest of the world.

All across the North, NEI is supporting projects resulting in new knowledge of ecosystem status and trends. For example, researchers held a number of meetings with the Innu in Labrador to understand landscape features through their eyes. Innu understanding of cultural landscape features is incorporated into priority-setting and decision-making.

Fast Facts

Climate models project northern latitudes will experience more warming than anywhere else in the world.

During the last 50 years, the largest warming rates over Canada have been observed in the Mackenzie Basin, with annual values increasing by 1.5 to 2.0°C.

Approximately 85 per cent of Canada's population lives within 300 kilometres of the southern border with the contiguous United States.

Canada was the first Arctic country to host the United Nations Climate Change Conference in November 2005, and the first to celebrate Arctic Day at a UN conference.

Related Sites

Northern Ecosystem Initiative

Northern Climate Exchange

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami

Innu Guardians

Climate change project in Northern Quebec

Dene Nation

Council of Yukon First Nations

Innu Nation

Hunter on ice, Photo: Grant Gilchrist – Click to enlarge.

With NEI support, the Dene Nation organized a series of workshops involving the Denendeh Working Group. Through this forum, scientists, elders, local leaders, and youth were able to discuss and share knowledge of the changing western Arctic environment.

Another NEI-supported project is examining the impacts of climate change on drinking water quality in two north coast Labrador communities. The project will develop strategies for water resource planning and management, merging local, traditional, and scientific knowledge.

Out of sight, not out of mind

Most Canadians (about 85 per cent) live within 300 kilometres of Canada's southern border. For them, the North remains a distant and unexplored frontier.

Despite the fact that a very small percentage of the world's greenhouse gas emissions originate in the Arctic, human-induced changes in northern climates are some of the greatest on earth. It is becoming increasingly important for northern communities to better communicate with the rest of Canada and the world to vividly portray the human element of a changing climate.

In 2005-2006, NEI supported 39 research projects across the Canadian North. The projects involved more than 200 partnerships among scientists, Aboriginal groups, and northern communities. Partnership organizations include Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Dene Nation, Council of Yukon First Nations, and most recently, the Innu Nation of Labrador. Collectively, these organizations represent First Nation and Inuit peoples spanning most of the Canadian North.

On Arctic Day, in association with the United Nations Forum on Climate Change in late 2005, the Council of Yukon First Nations and the Arctic Athabaskan Council released the documentary Through Arctic Eyes – the Human Face of Global Warming. As well, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami launched their book UNIKKAAQATIGIIT – a book that puts the human face on climate change from the perspective of the Inuit in Canada.

NEI is now working on facilitating a number of projects in conjunction with International Polar Year 2007-2008 – again bringing the focus to a part of Canada that may be out of sight for many of us, but most certainly not out of mind.

Print Version

E-mail This Story To A Friend

Also in this Issue

	\| What's New \| About Us \| Topics \| Publications \| Weather \| Home \|
	\| Help \| Search \| Canada Site \|
	The Green LaneTM, Environment Canada's World Wide Web site
		Important Notices

Issue 67 August 10, 2006

From Yukon to Labrador: Understanding Northern Ecosystems

Bridging the knowledge gap

Out of sight, not out of mind

Issue 67
August 10, 2006