Abstract
This paper discusses the relationship between climate change and subsistence behaviors of indigenous peoples in Arctic regions of North America. It is noted that those most affected by such change are, typically, those peoples who continue to carry out subsistence practices through which they acquire a significant percentage of food from the land. It is these very peoples who also may offer valuable observations about changes which they are personally witnessing. A case study example, the Nets’aii Gwich’in community of Arctic Village, Alaska, is presented. Using Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and villagers’ observations as the primary data source, it is shown that levels of subsistence activity in this community are decreasing. Villagers believe that climate changes are playing a key role in the ability to access country foods. They believe too that there are fewer animals and that the food now available is of poorer quality than in the past. It is concluded that the information and data presented here concerning villager perceptions should be viewed as only part of the explanation for changes in subsistence behaviors. More research in the coming years is called for to further help distinguish the impacts of climate change upon subsistence activities from other social and economic forces which also are playing a role in such indigenous communities.
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Notes
According to data gathered in the 2006, approximately a fifth of the children in the village lived in female-run, single parent homes. This statistic parallels the National average for that year (see Table CH-1 at www.census.go/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html).
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Acknowledgments
A previous version of this article was presented at the International Geographical Union in Tel Aviv, Israel, July 15, 2010. Travel funding to Tel Aviv was provided by an American Association of Geographers—National Science Foundation Fund Travel Grant. Additional funding for this study also was provided by Philadelphia University. My thanks to two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments on an earlier draft of the article. Lastly, special thanks to Dolores Pfeuffer-Scherer for her very helpful comments as well.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Arctic Village public opinion survey questionnaire 2009
The following is a series of 20 questions for a research study concerning Arctic Village/Vashr’aii K’oo. It will take roughly ½—45 min h to answer all the questions. You will be paid $15 for your time. The way that the survey works is that if you don’t know an answer, please feel free to tell me. If you don’t wish to answer a certain question, please tell me that also. The information from this survey will be used solely to assist my research concerning your village. Your name will not be used in any way in this research and your answers will remain confidential.
Appendix 2
Variables | χ2 | p ≤ .05 | N |
|---|---|---|---|
Subsistence Rate × Age 21–39, 40–59, 60–80 | 22.156 | .014 | 35 |
Subsistence Rate × Age × Sex | 25.179 | .005 | 15 (F) |
Subsistence Rate × Age × Employment | 17.907 | .057 | 19 (Employed) |
Subsistence Rate × Age 21–39, 40–59, 60–80 (2006) | 30.054 | .018 | 39 |
Caribou × Moose | 12.828 | .00 | 35 |
Caribou × Ducks | 5.638 | .03 | 35 |
Caribou × Fish | 9.573 | .01 | 35 |
Caribou × Berries | 4.323 | .05 | 35 |
Caribou × Wood | 13.047 | .00 | 35 |
Caribou × Shared Ducks | 6.358 | .03 | 35 |
Caribou × Snowgo | 7.204 | .01 | 35 |
Caribou × ATV | 4.846 | .02 | 35 |
Snowgo × ATV | 5.250 | .02 | 35 |
Snowgo × Wood | 6.774 | .02 | 35 |
Moose × Ducks | 5.106 | .03 | 35 |
Moose × Trapping | 5.402 | .03 | 35 |
Moose × Wood | 4.782 | .05 | 35 |
Ducks × Fish | 10.272 | .00 | 35 |
Ducks × Wood | 8.656 | .01 | 35 |
Fish × Wood | 18.065 | .01 | 35 |
Fish × Shared Ducks | 18.154 | .00 | 35 |
Education × Warmer Summers × Sex | 8.819 | .01 | 18 (M) |
Education × Warmer Summers × Sex | 6.199 | .05 | 15 (F) |
Education × Less Snow × Sex | 7.261 | .03 | 18 (M) |
Fish × Cooler Summers | 5.833 | .03 | 35 |
Wood × Cooler Summers | 6.964 | .03 | 35 |
Warm Winters × How we Hunt | 5.625 | .02 | 30 |
Warm Winters × How we Hunt × Age | 4.180 | .05 | 22 (40–80 years) |
Subsistence Rate × Colder Winters × Age | 4.941 | .03 | 24 (40–80 years) |
Snowgo × More snow | 6.103 | .02 | 34 |
Snowgo × How we Hunt | 5.903 | .02 | 31 |
Snowgo × More snow × Ducks | 4.774 | .04 | 22 (hunters) |
Snowgo × More snow × Berries | 5.042 | .03 | 24 (pickers) |
Snowgo × More snow × Fish | 4.288 | .05 | 27 (fishers) |
Snowgo × More snow × Trapping | 4.299 | .04 | 27 (not trappers) |
Snowgo × More snow × Moose | 4.735 | .04 | 17 (not hunters) |
Food quantity × Moose | 4.344 | .05 | 30 |
Snowgo × Food quantity | 4.800 | .04 | 30 |
Snowgo × Food quantity × Age | 6.044 | .02 | 22 (40–80 years) |
Fridge × Food quantity | 5.880 | .03 | 30 |
Wet summers × Food quantity | 5.625 | .02 | 30 |
Wet summers × Food quantity × Age | 8.526 | .01 | 22 (40–80 years) |
Food quality × Moose × Age | 1.102 | .05 | 24 (40–80 years) |
Food quality × Warm winters | 6.026 | .02 | 32 |
Food quality × Warm winters × Age | 5.760 | .04 | 9 (21–39 years) |
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Dinero, S.C. Indigenous perspectives of climate change and its effects upon subsistence activities in the Arctic: the case of the Nets’aii Gwich’in. GeoJournal 78, 117–137 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-011-9424-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-011-9424-8