The document summarizes the Iqaluit Land Use Monitoring Project (ILMP) which aims to understand how Inuit hunters in Iqaluit, Nunavut are experiencing and adapting to climate-related risks and changes over time. The ILMP utilizes GPS tracking of hunters, accompanied hunting trips, interviews and weather/ice data to analyze changing environmental conditions, constraints on land access, adaptations to hunting terrestrial species like caribou, and the dynamic nature of vulnerability. Preliminary results from 2008-2010 show impacts like later freeze-up reducing hunting days as well as high flexibility and adaptability of hunters, but also the potential for maladaptive trajectories if short-term responses undermine long-term sustainability.

1. THE DYNAMIC NATURE OF
VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION
TO CLIMATE-RELATED RISKS AND
CHANGE: THE IQALUIT LAND USE
MONITORING PROJECT
Dr James D. Ford, Graham McDowell, Jamal Shirley
www.jamesford.ca

2. Background
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¨ Key theme in scholarship: CC and subsistence hunting
¨ Baseline understanding
¤ Widespread evidence of CC and impacts (safety, food security, culture)
¤ Vulnerability / resilience mediated by socio-economic factors
¨ Deficiencies in understanding (see Ford & Pearce 2012, The Canadian
Geographer)
¤ Static understanding yet vulnerability dynamic (e.g. adaptive learning,
feedback, thresholds)
¤ Nature of climate - impact links not fully understood
¨ Methodological limitations
¤ Retrospective study design (recall bias, seasonal influences)
¤ Absence of longitudinal studies, reliance of limited field seasons

3. The Iqaluit Land Use Monitoring Project
(ILMP)
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¨ Obtain real-time
longitudinal data on Inuit-
environment interactions to
understand how climate
risks are experienced and
managed

4. GPS Tracking
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¨ 2 full-time hunters equipped with GPS
¨ 2007 – ongoing

5. Regular interviews
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¨ >100 post hunt interviews
¨ Examine GPS data, review land use, dangers
encountered, coping mechanisms employed etc.

6. Accompanied hunting trips
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¨ Team members go hunting during all seasons

7. Instrumental data
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¨ Use of local weather station data and CIS ice charts

8. Results: Land-use
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¨ 2008-2010:
>21,000km travel
¤ 70% by snowmobile,
average trip107km
¤ 30% boat, average
trip 99km
Ford et al (in
review, AAAG)

9. Results: Changing env. conditions
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¨ 1982-2010
¤ 50 days later
freeze up
¤ 70 days more
open water
¤ Declining wind
predominance
¨ Hunting team
¤ Iceinstability
Ford et al (in review,
¤ 2010/11 AAAG)
extremes

10. Results: Access constraints &
opportunities
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¨ Trail network
“choke points”
¨ 2010/11 many
hunting areas
inaccessible
Ford et al (in
review, AAAG)

11. Results: Terrestrial adaptation
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¨ Caribou in
Amadjuak Lake
region in Nov-Jan
¤ Sustainability:
hunting pressure, CC,
& caribou
¤ Land hazards
( snow, river freeze
up (e.g. 2008))
Ford et al (in
review, AAAG)

12. Results: General observations (1)
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¨ Co-occurence of climatic extremes problematic
¤ e.g.
Nov-Dec 2010: late freeze-up, 38 days lost to high
winds, Amadjuak Lake trail impassible till Dec
¨ High adaptability: flexibility, TK
¨ Hunting team are keystone individuals
¤ Broad importance for Iqaluit
¨ Importance of income: damaged equipment
replaced, extra distance costs incurred (e.g. vs
Igloolik)

13. Results: General observations (2)
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¨ Potential for ‘trajectories of
maladaptation’ (Fazey et al 2011)
¤ Short-term adaptability may result in long term
vulnerability
¤ Donwstream effects: displacing impacts to future
¤ Overspecialized adaptations susceptible to a new
stressor (e.g. caribou)

14. Conclusion
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¨ Analyzed 2008-2010 data (see Ford et al., in
review, Annals Assoc. of American Geographers)
¨ Future
¤ Focus on 2010/11
¤ Continued monitoring
¤ Aim: 10 years

15. Thank You
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Thank You
Acknowledgments: Josh Atagoyuk, Levi Pisuktie, Udlu Pisuktie, Tristan Pearce, Bill Gough, Rick Siewierski, Sara Statham,
Frank Duerden, Mike Pitre, ArcticNet, SSHRC, NRI, IPY