Traditional Knowledge: Less Relevent Than Before

For as long as Inuit have lived in the Arctic we have used the traditional knowledge of weather and weather patterns gathered over thousands of years to guide our activities.

Over the past generation however, our elders have noticed many changes, and one of the consistent comments they have made is that the weather patterns are changing so rapidly that they can no longer accurately be predicted the way they once could.

Science considers the Arctic as the global bellwether for climate change, and for as long as changes in weather patterns have been happening Inuit have attempted to share their observations with others; and we have tried to warn that what is happening in our homeland will ultimately happen in other places - that is now happening.

Recently I read an article that stated,

Climate change has made history an inaccurate guide for farmers as well as energy investors who must rely on probabilities and scenarios to make decisions, the head of a United Nations agency said.

In the same article Mr. Michael Jarraud, Director-General of the World Meteorogical Organization, also suggested that

.... guidance passed down through generations about how to prepare and manage crops was becoming less relevant because of changing patterns of heat, humidity and water access around the world.

"This traditional knowledge is no longer adapted. It's exactly because your grandfather did this that you shouldn't do it, because the context has changed," he said.

Inuit understand, and can sympathize with, the problems the farmers Mr. Jarraud is talking about are experiencing as we have already experienced them – as a result of rapid climate change the traditional weather knowledge passed down to us has not been reliable for some time now.

In December the global community will meet in Copenhagen for the COP 15 meeting to discuss what actions they will take to mitigate the effects of climate change. At that meeting we hope that the participants will take seriously what has already happened in the Arctic, and what is now beginning to happen in other places, and as a result take concrete steps to ensure that further negative impacts on people are stopped.

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