Arctic climate change and its effects on Inuit populations

Arctic Climate Change and Its Effects on Inuit

The Arctic is located on the middle of the North Pole. The Arctic Ocean, the northern parts of Alaska, Canada, Norway, Russia, and most of Iceland, Greenland and the Bering Sea are included in the Arctic regions. The climate of the Arctic is categorized as polar. It means that there are long and cold winters in the region but short and cool summers. Due to the extreme climatic conditions, the Arctic is one of the world's most thinly inhabited areas ("Arctic, The," 2009).

The ACIA (Arctic Climate Impact Assessment) has presented some key findings regarding the climate in the Arctic. Firstly, there is rapid warming in the region which could result in worldwide climatic changes. At the same time, there could be an increase in the marine transport and resources could be easily accesses as a result of reduced sea ice. However, the melting and softening of ground would not only disrupt transportation but also damage the buildings and other infrastructure in the region (Fenge, 2006).

Climate Change in Arctic and Its Influence

Recently, the Catlin Arctic Survey and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) have collected latest data regarding the climate change in the Arctic region. This data has presented convincing and undeniable facts that the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is thinning. This confirmation supports the rising belief that within a decade, the Arctic Ocean will be largely ice-free throughout summer ("Melting Arctic Ice Threatens to Speed up Climate Change," 2010, p. 4).

The Earth's climate system positions Arctic sea in centre. Thus, its removal definitely means that there would be a rise in the global temperature. According to Dr. Martin Sommerkorn (WWF), "Such a loss of Arctic sea ice cover has recently been assessed to set in motion powerful climate feedbacks which will have an impact far beyond the Arctic itself - self perpetuating cycles, amplifying and accelerating the consequences of global warming" (as qtd. In "Melting Arctic Ice Threatens to Speed Up Climate Change," 2010, p. 4). The melting of ice could lead to a severe flooding with the potential of influencing 1/4 of the world's population. Moreover, the world would likely to experience extreme weather changes and significant increases in greenhouse gas discharges ("Melting Arctic Ice Threatens to Speed Up Climate Change," 2010, p. 4).

The climate change in Arctic can also shift the vegetation zones and this can cause extensive impacts such as amplification of global warming with forests' expansion, insect outbreaks, forest fires, and increase in the range of crops. It has also been predicted that the Arctic climate shift will change the diversity of animal species along with their ranges and distribution in the Arctic region. Animals including polar bears, seals, walruses, and seabirds that are solely dependent on the biological productivity of the sea and on the sea ice could be in danger with climatic shifts. Moreover, the animals could also be affected by the decline in certain types of vegetation they feed on and this would consequently affect the food chain ("Scientific facts on," 2012).

Conclusion

In spite of the new confrontations, Inuit communities are coping well with the environmental changes in ways that are both innovative and effective. Many of them now are in a habit of making extra preparations before going out and all this is done due to the potential dangers of weather. The hunters, too, keep small boats in order to keep away from being stranded on drifting ice. Most of them avoid traveling on the land or water just because they follow their instincts that the weather would become bad. Some of them choose to stop going out and be home altogether at difficult times of the year. They change the timing and location of their activities. The GPS (Global Positioning Systems) is being used by many hunters to detect the movement of the ice. They also keep VHF radios so that they can contact others in times of emergency. Moreover, they consult satellite images of the sea for the identification of the areas to be avoided (Ford, 2005).

The Inuit have also become adaptable to their environment because of the diversity and flexibility in the usage of resources. They take chances in harvesting. They harvest whenever and wherever the conditions allow them. They are now really clever in identifying and taking advantage of particular conditions. The climate change gives them the opportunity of creating new situations. For instance, they get benefitted from the later ice freeze-up during autumn by making the fishing season longer. They wait for the occurrence of freezing and resume their normal activities (Ford, 2005).

The Inuit need to organize themselves to raise awareness regarding the magnitude of Arctic climate change. They must come forward to advocate action for the reduction of greenhouse gases. They must stop playing the part of the helpless victims (Nickels, 2004, p. 7).