Climate Change and Health & Well-Being: A Policy Primer for Canada's North

Climate Change in Canada's North

Scientists, governments and international bodies have recognized that greenhouse gas accumulations in the atmosphere are changing the global climate, and will affect the environment and human health and well-being.¹ The range of potential health effects from this phenomenon is quite broad. Some communities, such as those in Canada's North, will be more vulnerable than others, for social/cultural reasons (dependence on the lands), geographic reasons, due to health status or because of limited resources. For the purposes of this document Canada's North is defined as the Territories, Nunavik, Labrador and the northern part of Canada's provinces. Much is already being done to better understand the causes and long-term patterns of climate change and climate variability in Canada and to begin responding to them.

Canada is a northern country and therefore is expected to experience faster warming due to climate change than are countries farther south. Average temperatures over Canada have increased more than 1^oC in the past century with the largest increases in the central, northwest and northern regions. At the same time, there were decreases in temperature in the furthest eastern regions. There will also be an increase in climate variability and we can expect more extremes of weather events. Much of central and northern Canada is projected to experience a mean temperature increase of 5^oC, or more, by the second part of this century while the waters off the coast of Labrador and Newfoundland and nearby coastal areas are projected to continue cooling. The rest of Canada, including most of the larger communities, is in the 3^oC to 5^oC temperature rise range. ²

Climate change is having an effect on natural ecosystems in all parts of Canada's North. Canada's Third National Report on Climate Change (2002) which can be viewed at http://www.climatecha nge.gc.ca/english/3nr/toc.html documents the effects of climate change in the western Canadian Arctic.³ This region has warmed by about 1.5ºC over the past 40 years, while the central Arctic has warmed by about 0.5ºC. The Third National Report highlights a number of projected physical changes for northern Canada including:

• Changes in the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice.
• Ice-rich sediments and permafrost are thawing and coastal erosion is increasing. This would greatly reduce ground strength which may induce landslides, increase sediment contribution to rivers and reduce or eliminate the ability of earth materials to support buildings and transportation facilities.
• Altered distribution and introduction of some plant and animal species. The appearance of southern species such as Pacific salmon and robins in the Arctic for the first time in memory, as cited by traditional knowledge research.
• More open water along coastlines in winter and spring, making hunting more hazardous.
• Melting of permanent snowpacks in Yukon for the first time in thousands of years.
• Increases in sustainable fish harvests for most populations in the Arctic and for northern freshwater populations while general decreases for Pacific (e.g., southern salmon, cod), and Atlantic marine and southern freshwater populations (e.g., trout, whitefish, grayling).

People living in communities throughout Canada's North are also reporting changes they have observed in the local climate and surrounding ecosystems. For example, the report Inuit Observations on Climate Change which draws on observations by the Hunters and Trappers Committee of Sachs Harbour documents the problem of Arctic climate change to communicate it to Canadian and international audiences. ⁴ At the Elders Conference on Climate Change held in March, 2001 in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, a number of observations were made by participants regarding changes in the climate. And in Nunavik and parts of Labrador in the eastern Arctic, significant changes to the water resources, food sources and other components of specific ecosystems have been reported. Some of the observations made by northern residents in these reports follow; they illustrate the wide range and complex nature of the climate change effects northerners are witnessing.

Inuit Observations on Climate Change⁵

• The climate has become unpredictable; the landscape unfamiliar.
• Winter sea ice is thin and broken, making travel dangerous for hunters.
• Fall storms have become frequent and severe, making boating difficult.
• An influx of flies and mosquitos are making life difficult for humans and animals.
• In waters close to Sachs Harbour, salmon have been caught for the first time.
• Building foundations are shifting from the melting permafrost.

Elders Conference on Climate Change⁶

• Winters are getting shorter, summers are getting longer.
• We are losing the ice in our glaciers and fiords. Permafrost is melting. We see vegetation growing where ice used to be.
• The sun's rays are increasing; Inuit need stronger suntan lotion.
• We now see birds and wildlife that we have never seen here before. Ravens are everywhere, Snow Geese are too numerous.
• Heavier winds can be dangerous. Because of Global Warming we could become subject to catastrophes like hurricanes.
• Caribou meat tastes different now and there are concerns about contaminants and diseases.
• Caribou hides are thinner.
• Fall ice forms later and may not be safe to travel on until Christmas.
• Water levels are getting lower.
• More ships are traveling through the Northwest Passage, due to the lower ice coverage in recent years.

Nunavik and Labrador⁷

• Lower levels of water in some rivers and some brooks and lakes have dried up.
• Ice break-up is earlier and ice seems thinner now.
• More sick caribou seen.
• Little snow on the ice now.
• Glaciers in the north are melting.
• More fierce fall storms.
• Change in weather patterns - get unpredictable mild weather.
• Land is much drier.

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¹McMichael et al., 1996; Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, 1996.

² Bruce et al., no date.

³Also see Aynslie Ogden, "Climate Change in the Circumpolar North: Summit and Sustainable Technology Exposition - Program & Abstracts", Whitehorse, Yukon, March 19-21, 2001.

⁴As well, a workshop organized by ITK, IRC, IISD and CHUQ "Arctic Climate Change: Observations from the Inuvaliut Settlement Region" was held in Tuktoyaktuk from January 28-29, 2002.

⁵Graham Ashford and Jennifer Castleden, "Inuit Observations on Climate Change", International Institute for Sustainable Development, June 2001. Also see, "Climate Change and Adaptation Strategies for Canada's Northern Territories: Final Workshop Report", February 27-29, 2000, Yellowknife, N.W.T., Prepared for Natural Resources Canada and Environment Canada by GeoNorth Ltd., June, 2000.

⁶"Elders Conference on Climate Change", Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, March 29-31, 2001.

⁷ C.M. Furgal et al., "Climate Change and Health in Nunavik and Labrador: What we Know from Science and Inuit Knowledge". February, 2002.