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

A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

In April 2009, over 300 indigenous representatives from 7 regions of the world came together in Anchorage Alaska to discuss among other climate change issues food security (see Appendix 1 for the Anchorage Declaration). Two recommendations in particular were agree upon by delegates to the Summit regarding Food Security: 13. In order to provide the resources necessary for our collective survival in response to the climate crisis, we declare our communities, waters, air, forests, oceans, sea ice, traditional lands and territories to be “Food Sovereignty Areas,” defined and directed by Indigenous Peoples according to customary laws, free from extractive industries, deforestation and chemical-based industrial food production systems (i.e. contaminants, agro-fuels, genetically modified organisms). 14. We encourage our communities to exchange information while ensuring the protection and recognition of and respect for the intellectual property rights of Indigenous Peoples at the local, national and international levels pertaining to our Traditional Knowledge, innovations, and practices. These include knowledge and use of land, water and sea ice, traditional agriculture, forest management, ancestral seeds, pastoralism, food plants, animals and medicines and are essential in developing climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, restoring our food sovereignty and food independence, and strengthening our Indigenous families and nations. The following is a summary of those discussions which provide some insight to the global nature of the food security issue. GENERAL STATEMENTS: Delegates supported the Declaration of Atitlan (Appendix 2), particularly the definition of and need for Food Sovereignty as being “the right of Peoples to define their own policies and strategies for the sustainable production, distribution and consumption of food, with respect to their own cultures and their own systems of managing natural resources and rural areas, and is considered to be a precondition for Food Security”. •

denied our traditional foods, we suffer diabetes and other illnesses.

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Food security simply provides access to the market. Sovereignty is essential because it is about who produces the food – food subsidies may be available, but they are for foods that are unknown to our peoples.

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Indigenous Peoples have more awareness of climate change issues than other people.

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Food = medicine = food

In some cultures, foods are sacred, since they are spirits of our ancestors. Genetic modification of these foods is therefore equivalent to genetic testing on our ancestors. We need to “treat, teach and develop.” Educating our people is paramount – it is cheaper to prevent disease with traditional knowledge than it is to treat the problems when they arise. For the World Health Organization, each government prepares an annual report. We ask that indigenous issued be included in that report. We need monitoring of the impacts of climate change on the health of Indigenous Peoples, and ways to help them look for solutions when they suffer these devastating catastrophes. We have proved that our foods are good foods, and are more health for our people. Our Elders used to die from being old. Now they die from being unhealthy. Indigenous Peoples have the right to medical assistance: prevention and treatment of malaria, typhoid, diabetes, etc. Medical help and training of our own peoples is needed. Arctic In the Bering Sea in the Arctic, climate change brings storms and erosion. We harvest “stinky” whales that are counted in our quota, but we can’t eat because they have been poisoned. The thawing of the permafrost destroys the freezers we used to preserve our food. There are • • • • • •

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Food affects our cultural and spiritual health, ceremonies, clan relationships, etc. If we are

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IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON FOOD SECURITY IN THE CANADIAN ARCTIC