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Climate Change and the Inuvialuit of Banks Island, NWT:

Using Traditional Environmental Knowledge to Complement Western Science

By Dyanna Riedlinger

INTRODUCTION

THE impacts of future climate change are expectedto be felt earliest and most keenly at Arctic latitudes(Maxwell, 1997). Significant environmental

changes observed in the last decade, such as late freeze-ups, melting sea ice, shrinking permafrost layers, andevidence of northern range expansions for some species,suggest that climate change is already having effects in theArctic.

Compared to other regions of the world, the Northprobably has the greatest uncertainty concerning the rateand the extent of climate change. Much of our currentknowledge is based on scientific findings, largely frommodeling, climatology, and biology. Climate change dataare often limited both seasonally and by a lack of historicalbaseline information. Western science, while a valuablemeans of acquiring knowledge, represents only one set ofapproaches to knowledge and inquiry. An exclusive focuson scientific data may limit our understanding of climatechange and its impact on western Arctic communities. Canother approaches to knowledge and inquiry enhance ourunderstanding?

One way to broaden this understanding is to explore thecontribution of traditional environmental knowledge. Asan example of how to bridge the gap between scientific andtraditional knowledge, I will describe how Inuvialuit envi-ronmental knowledge, or local expert knowledge of theland, can enhance research on climate change. Recordedhere are my first impressions of a project to documentclimate change as it is seen through the eyes of the Inuvialuitof Banks Island.

THE PROJECT

The extensive use and knowledge of the land found inInuvialuit communities provide a distinctive source ofenvironmental expertise—expertise that is guided by gen-erations of experience. Environmental change associatedwith variations in weather and climate has not gone unno-ticed by Northerners who are experiencing such changefirsthand. Many Inuvialuit feel that current environmentalchanges are without precedent, and are fundamentallydifferent from normal changes in the weather. Climatechange research provides a rich setting for the study of thedynamic relationship between humans and the environ-ment. A study of this relationship, as expressed throughthe medium of traditional environmental knowledge, canbe used to complement, enhance, and help make sense of

science-based understandings of the impact of climatechange on western Arctic land and communities.

The contribution of traditional environmental knowl-edge and local observation to Arctic research is increas-ingly recognized as a means not only to enhanceunderstanding of complex environmental phenomena, butalso to meaningfully involve local communities. Tradi-tional knowledge and Western science can complementeach other (Berkes, 1999) and have often been used to-gether to improve such areas as resource management andenvironmental assessment. However, almost no researchto date has explored the value of traditional knowledgerelated to climate change in the Arctic (Cohen, 1997).

The work described here is my graduate research as partof a current collaborative project between the Interna-tional Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD) and thewestern Arctic Inuvialuit community of Sachs Harbour(Ikaahuk), Banks Island (Fig. 1). The project, called InuitObservations of Climate Change, has two goals. The firstis to produce a video to show southern audiences anddecision makers how climate change may be affecting thewestern Arctic. The second is to bring scientists and localexperts together to explore how traditional environmentalknowledge and local observations can enrich scientificresearch on climate change.

I have been honoured with the opportunity to partici-pate in this project, which has allowed me to address themethodological challenges and questions of using tradi-tional environmental knowledge and local observations toboth complement Western science and provide a role fornorthern people in Arctic research.

INUVIALUIT OBSERVATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

The project was initially based on anecdotal and otherevidence from several sources that climate change effectswere already being observed in the western Arctic. Thisevidence included observations of late freeze-ups andearly spring breakups of sea ice, which had interfered withannual caribou migrations. As well, there were sugges-tions that permafrost layers were deepening, making falltravel more difficult. Storage caches dug into the perma-frost were observed to be increasingly unreliable, as per-mafrost thawing resulted in meat spoilage. Changes hadbeen observed in what the Inuit call “drinkable ice”:multiyear ice in which salt pockets have drained out. Localobservers have noted increasingly frequent and severethunderstorms with lightning, possibly attributable to anorthward shift of the western Subarctic storm track. And

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Map of Sachs Harbour, Banks Island, N.W.T.

finally, Inuit hunters have reported more frequent cloudydays, and fewer clear, cold days when they could hear thesea ice crack.

The purpose of our first trip to Banks Island, in June1999, was mainly to explore the extent of local observa-tions of climate change and to organize and plan how andwhen the video would be filmed. We had several days ofdiscussion and workshops, as well as much visiting and allof the tea drinking that we could fit in. The communityworkshops were organized around a participatory method-ology designed to ensure that the project results wouldaccurately reflect Inuvialuit viewpoints, observations, andtraditions. The workshops enabled the community to shareobservations of climate change, organize the phenomena intocategories, explain their observations according to traditionalknowledge and experience on the land, and discuss adaptivestrategies that they might have developed to cope with change.The workshops also allowed the community to guide theprocess by identifying key periods, indicators, and localexplanations of change that should be filmed.

Our first visit to Sachs Harbour substantiated and addedto the initial observations that had provided the basis forthe project. It was clear that environmental change had notgone unnoticed. In the first day of workshops, the commu-nity discussed the accumulating evidence of changes oc-curring in the landscape around them. They describedfreeze-ups that were three to four weeks late and severestorms with wind, thunder, lightning, and hail. They dis-cussed intense, unpredictable weather and fluctuations inseasons. Hunters described not seeing ice floes in thesummer anymore, umingmak (muskox) being born earlier,geese laying eggs earlier, and nanuq (polar bears) comingout from their dens earlier because of warming and thaw.They also described catching species of Pacific salmon(identified by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans assockeye Oncorhynchus nerka and pink Oncorhynchusgorbuscha) in their nets, when traditionally such occur-rences were unheard of. Too much open water in the winter

The community of Sachs Harbour, June 1999. Photo by GrahamAshford.

was making harvesting animals difficult, as was the lack ofsnow in spring, the lack of sea ice in summer, increasedfreezing rain, and thinner ice.

Three future trips to Banks Island will build upon andenhance the work of the first visit through interviews andinteractions between scientists and local community mem-bers and filming of traditional activities that have beenaffected by climate changes occurring on the Island. Re-searchers will schedule the trips at times of the yeardetermined by the community, in order to experience,explain, and record seasonal climate change phenomena.Additionally, as part of my role in the research team, I willbe remaining in the community after the project teamleaves, to follow up on filming, interviews, and work-shops. Semidirected interviews with individuals and smallgroups within the community will allow further documen-tation of climate-related traditional knowledge as explainedand understood by the Inuvialuit.

LINKING INUVIALUIT OBSERVATIONS ANDWESTERN SCIENCE

The kinds of observations discussed by the Inuvialuit ofSachs Harbour can enhance our understanding of theeffects of climate change in the western Arctic. My re-search specifically explores how traditional knowledgeand local observations can be linked with Western science.Traditional knowledge and Western science, as Berkes(1999) asserts, are rooted in different worldviews andunequal in power, and are therefore not easy to combine.Linking them provokes questions like these, which ulti-mately provide the methodological foundation for theresearch: How do we study traditional knowledge? How dowe apply this knowledge to our research? How doestraditional knowledge research occur without taking theknowledge out of its cultural context, without merelyabstracting it for our own purposes by fitting it into ourown research paradigms?

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My research statement, within the context of this project,addresses the methodological challenges and questionsassociated with traditional knowledge research. I am look-ing at how traditional environmental knowledge and West-ern science can be used together as distinct, yetcomplementary, sources of understanding. My researchfocuses specifically on the formulation of scientific hy-potheses and the role and the ability of local experts on theland to contribute to this process. Scientists formulatehypotheses based on the possibilities of which they areaware: they choose their questions from the set of conceptsavailable to them (Keddy, 1989). Traditional knowledgemay provide a means to broaden the extent and scope ofavailable possibilities and concepts, and allow us to placewhat we learn in a local context. Choosing our questions andformulating our hypotheses is considered the most importantpart of the scientific process (Keddy, 1989); it is also its mostsubjective aspect. Can local experts on the land contribute tothe formulation of hypotheses, thus participating in a mean-ingful and complementary way in Arctic climate research?

It became very clear to me during my visit to SachsHarbour that how traditional knowledge research is done isas important as what is accomplished. The contextualnature of traditional knowledge presents researchers witha unique challenge. Methods for collecting and document-ing traditional knowledge need to preserve the context andthe content of the knowledge. Traditional knowledge re-search must both involve and benefit local communitiesrather than just providing information for outsiders.

The organization of the project relies on accurately reflect-ing the perspectives of the community and their knowledge.The project recognizes that meaningfulness and accuracyrely heavily on ensuring direct participation of the commu-nity. The use of film as a medium for recording and docu-menting traditional environmental knowledge may serve asan appropriate methodology to preserve the context of theknowledge and ensure that climate change is explained ac-cording to Inuvialuit perspectives.

CONCLUSION: TWO WAYS OF KNOWING

I keenly observed and absorbed as much as I possiblycould during my first visit to Sachs Harbour. I worked hardat keeping an open mind, conscious of the need to hearabout change from the perspective of the Inuvialuit as theyunderstand and explain it, free from my own impressionsand interpretations. As the days progressed, I found myselfas interested and challenged (and sometimes perplexed)by the scientists as I was by the Inuvialuit! I was remindedof a social scientist working in the North who commentedthat two groups of people were enriching her knowledge ofthe Arctic: Inuit elders and Arctic scientists. She found thatboth were often difficult to understand, and both had diffi-culty communicating their knowledge (Bielawski, 1992).

This project has given me the opportunity to gain insightinto two ways of knowing, two ways of understanding,

which—while distinct—can also be complementary. NeitherWestern science nor traditional knowledge is sufficient inisolation for understanding the complexities of global climatechange and its manifestations at the local or regional scale.Scientists are increasingly recognizing the value of tradi-tional knowledge in Arctic science. Local Inuvialuit hunters,conscious of natural environmental cycles, are finding thatchanges in weather are beginning to appear permanent, andthey are also searching for answers.

Climate change is a reality to the Inuvialuit of BanksIsland. The history of Arctic peoples is about adapting toenvironmental change. However, the rate and extent ofcurrent climate variability and change may be outside therealm of their historical experience. For this reason, weneed to gain a fuller understanding of how climate changewill impact the North and its potential effects on northernlivelihoods. One way to do this is by linking traditionalknowledge of the North with Western scientific expertise.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks to the people of Sachs Harbour for making me feel sowelcome in their community and giving me the opportunity toexperience the warmth of the western Arctic. Thanks also toRosemarie Kuptana, Neil Ford, Graham Ashford, Norm Snow,Terry Woolf, and Stan Reuben for making such a great project team.I am indebted to my advisor, Dr. Fikret Berkes, for ongoing supportand encouragement. Thanks to Chris Hannibal-Paci for challengingmy straw men, and to Theresa Nichols for her cartographic expertise.My contribution to this project would not have been possiblewithout the financial support of the Walter and Duncan GordonFoundation and the Lorraine Allison Scholarship from the ArcticInstitute of North America. Many thanks to both.

REFERENCES

BERKES, F. 1999. Sacred ecology: Traditional ecologicalknowledge and resource management. London and Philadelphia:Taylor and Francis.

BIELAWSKI, E. 1992. Inuit indigenous knowledge and science inthe Arctic. Northern Perspectives 20(1):5 –8.

COHEN, S.J. 1997. What if and so what in northwest Canada:Could climate change make a difference to the future of theMackenzie Basin? Arctic 50(4):293 –307.

KEDDY, P.A. 1989. Competition. Population and CommunityBiology Series. London: Chapman and Hall.

MAXWELL, B. 1997. Responding to global climate change inCanada’s Arctic: Volume II of the Canada Country Study:Climate impacts and adaptation. Downsview, Ontario:Environment Canada.

Dyanna Riedlinger is the recipient of the 1999 Lorraine AllisonScholarship. She is currently enrolled in the Master’s Program inNatural Resources Management at the Natural ResourcesInstitute, University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, Manitoba.