ISBN:
0612615057
,
9780612615052
Language:
English
Pages:
Online-Ressource (XIII, 111 S.)
,
graph. Darst., Kt.
Dissertation note:
Zugl.: Simon Fraser Univ., Thesis (M.R.M.), 2000
Keywords:
Traditional ecological knowledge
;
Inuit Ethnozoology
;
Caribou
;
Climatic changes
Abstract:
"Inuit ecological knowledge (IEK) can contribute new information, enhance existing knowledge, and provide hypotheses to guide further research concerning the impacts of climate change. Since time immemorial, Inuit have made links between climate, the environment and wildlife that have enabled their subsistence survival in harsh and changeable weather conditions. This paper focuses on these linkages to demonstrate the utility of IEK in contributing an understanding of climate change impacts on the Bathurst caribou herd in Nunavut, Canada. Within these complex ecological linkages, Qitirmiut (Inuit of the Kitikmeot region) have observed increasing temperatures since the 1950s that have led to earlier spring-melt, later fall freeze-up and more variable and unpredictable weather. Other environmental impacts of a warming climate include thinner ice, lower water levels, richer vegetation, more extreme heat days and sporadic freeze-thaw cycles. Locals have linked these impacts to more incidences of caribou drowning, overheating (or suffocating') or becoming exhausted as well as shifting their migration routes and locations of calving grounds on a local scale. Finally, Qitirmiut have observed a general increase in the quantity and quality of forage on the tundra. With these causal relationships, IEK is shown to be a unique source of knowledge in that it is, at once, aggregating, changing, orally passed, intergenerational, multifaceted, local, iterative, adaptive and spiritual. For this paper, 27 transcripts of semi-structured and semi-directed interviews that were conducted with elders and hunters from four communities in the Kitikmeot region were reviewed. These interviews were conducted as part of a community driven research endeavour to document and communicate IEK of caribou, called the Tuktu (caribou) and Nogak (calves) Project. In conclusion. a list of 20 hypotheses generated from Qitirmiut observations are submitted as starting points to guide future scientific and Inuit ecological knowledge research on the effects of climate change"--Leaf iii
Note:
Includes bibliographical references
URL:
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