Assessing the Impacts of Climate Change on Food Security in the Canadian Arctic

CLIMATE CHANGE AND FOOD SECURITY IN THE CANADIAN ARCTIC

Climate change poses a threat to country food security in northern regions because it influences animal availability, human ability to access wildlife, and the safety and quality of wildlife for consumption. Decreased access to winter forage (lichen and other vegetation) as a result of harsh winter weather – including heavy snow events and increased icing associated with temperature variability, and winter occurrence of freezing rain – is reported to be associated with significant animal die- offs and a steep decline in the populations of some central and western Arctic caribou herds (Miller and Gunn 2003; Harding 2004; Gunn et al. 2006; Tesar 2007). Declines have been so severe in recent years that managers are contemplating limiting the non- resident and non-Aboriginal harvest to protect herds and support recoveries (Tesar 2007). Residents from both the Yukon (Beaver Creek) and the NWT (Deh Gah Got’ie First Nation, Fort Providence) communities are witnessing changes in climate that are affecting the availability of species and residents’ ability to access and harvest them, and hence likely their nutrient intake from these traditional foods (Guyot et al. 2006). In some cases, residents are already having to shift or adapt harvesting activities and reduce their consumption of some species, and in other cases, they are able to increase their take of other animals that are moving into their region and becoming more common. Work conducted by Riedlinger (1999), Furgal et al. (2002), Ford et al. (2006), Nickels et al. (2006), and others, with Inuit residents throughout the North, report similar results. Lower water levels in rivers and ponds in Labrador were reported to negatively impact access to and health of fish species (Furgal et al. 2002; Communities of Labrador et al. 2005). Higher winds around Nunavut and Nunavik communities were reported to make travel and hunting more difficult and dangerous by boat in the summer; therefore, opportunities for hunting seals and whales in open water were limited (Ford et al. 2006; Nickels et al. , 2006). In the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Nunavut, and Nunavik, the increased length of the ice-free season and decreased ice thickness resulting from warming winter temperatures was reported to reduce, and make more dangerous, access to ice-dependent

wildlife species (e.g., ringed seal and polar bear) and other species commonly hunted from the ice (e.g., narwhal) (Ford et al. 2006; Nickels et al. 2006). What these and other climate-related impacts to food availability and accessibility mean in terms of shifts in per capita consumption of wildlife species nutrient intake throughout Arctic communities is currently a topic of significant study. In addition to providing significant health benefits, country food species are the most significant source of exposure to environmental contaminants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, mercury, and lead, for northern residents (Van Oostdam et al. 2005). The uptake, transport and deposition of many of these contaminants are influenced by temperature. Therefore, climate warming is likely to indirectly influence human exposure to these contaminants which, among other effects, are known to adversely affect immune and neuromotor functioning in children (AMAP 2003; Després et al. 2005; Kraemer et al. 2005). Further, Booth and Zeller (2005) reported that projected climate warming in the North Atlantic (0.4– 1.0°C) over the current century will increase rates of mercury methylation and hence concentrations in marine species between 1.7% and 4.4%. These increases could have implications for human exposure via consumption of some fish and marine mammals in these regions. Developing fetuses and young mothers are those most vulnerable to contaminant exposure (Van Oostdam et al. 2005). Currently, levels of exposure to mercury and other contaminants among some segments of the population in Nunavik and Nunavut exceed Canadian and international safety guidelines; advisories or consumption advice attempt to limit exposure (Van Oostdam et al. 2005). COUNTRY/TRADITIONAL FOODS Aboriginal residents maintain a strong and vital connection to the Arctic environment through traditional and subsistence activities of hunting, fishing and gathering a variety of animal and plant species. Many Northerners regularly harvest country foods, i.e., 68% Inuit report harvesting country foods. But for those families who cannot participate in harvesting activities, overpriced, store-bought food is the alternative. The use of non-traditional

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IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON FOOD SECURITY IN THE CANADIAN ARCTIC