ᓱᒃᑲᔪᒥᒃ ᖃᕋᓴᐅᔭᒃᑯᕈᓐᓇᐅᑎᖃᕐᐲᑦ? ᓱᒃᑲᔪᒧᐊᕐᓗᑎᑦ
ᑕᕆᔭᕋᓱᒃᑕᐃᑦ ᓱᒃᑲᐃᓗᐊᕐᐸ? ᐊᓯᓪᓕᕐᓗᒍ ᓱᒃᑲᐃᓂᕐᓴᒧᑦ ᑕᑯᒃᓴᐅᓇᕐᑐᒧᑦ
Climate Change Scientist, James Ford on Inuit Knowledge and The North as "The Miner's Canary"
About
James introduces himself and discusses how he works with the human dimension of climate change, specializing on the Inuit in the Arctic and adaptation. He talk about the changes that are happening in the arctic in terms of actual biophysical changes. The effects are severe, in the sea ice in particular and its effects on communities and animals alike. Scientists were surprised by the change in ice in particular in 2007. He discusses the ways in which the discourse is starting to be informed by the input of indigenous populations in the early 1990s, whereas previously it was strictly the traditional scientific data (that was often lacking) that dominated the discourse. Local knowledge is important, he says and he sees the two types of knowledge as compatible. He calls the Arctic the miner’s canary in terms of climate change. The profile is being raised by Inuit effectively and they are getting the message of climate change out there. Their traditional knowledge, which is continually evolving, is very important it terms of adaptation to the changing conditions. Nunavut youth are perhaps not getting enough of this traditional knowledge. Governments need to be aware of this and make effort to preserve and share this knowledge.
