"My Homeland is Melting" * European Development Days * Stockholm, Sweden * October 24, 2009

 

Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, thank you for this opportunity to speak in the company of such distinguished advocates and experts. Today I would like to talk to you about what is going on in my homeland – the Arctic, and what global warming means to my people – the Inuit. The effects of global warming are being felt on a day to day basis in the Arctic. The scientific predictions for what we can expect in the Arctic region in the not so distant future are alarming.

 

No - alarming is not a strong enough word – terrifying is better suited for the hunter who is lost on shifting ice or for the family whose house is splitting in half as the foundation sinks in the melting permafrost. There is a community in my region of northern Quebec – Salluit that is literally sinking into the Permafrost. This is happening to varying degrees across the Arctic. I want to stress that this is not of our own making. This is a human crisis.

 

The ability for Peoples to adapt has never been more important for Inuit than it is today.

 

Environmental changes - of all kinds - are coming at a rate that may exceed the threshold of Arctic peoples’ capacity to respond. The Arctic is melting. We fear for our future as Inuit and we fear for the planet.

 

Yet, Inuit are not content to be portrayed as the victims of climate variability and change. We want the opportunity to be part of the solution.

Inuit communities in the Arctic are unique when compared to other Northern Aboriginal populations and southern populations within Canada. Climate change presents tremendous challenges to our people.

 

The Arctic is our homeland. We call it Inuit Nunangat. We have occupied this vast territory for thousands of years and we will continue to occupy the Arctic. We have developed a culture and language deeply rooted in our physical surroundings. The Arctic defines who we are. In turn, our presence and way of life help define the Arctic.

 

There are approximately 55,000 Inuit living in Canada, spread throughout 53 communities in the Arctic-a region larger than Europe. The Arctic is one third of Canada’s land mass with 50% of Canada’s shore line.

Inuit are the vast majority of the permanent population in Arctic communities.

 

The Arctic is at the center of this climate crisis. The rate of warming in the Arctic in recent years is unprecedented and will continue. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified the Arctic as one of the most vulnerable regions of the world.

 

The recent Arctic Council Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) Report concludes that climate change is taking place now in high latitudes and predicts accelerating changes in coming decades with marked impacts on the northern ecology and significant social, economic, human health and cultural impacts.

 

At the G-8 meeting in Gleneagles Scotland in 2005, adaptation in the Arctic was identified as a high priority. The United Nations Environment Programme characterizes the Arctic as the globe’s “barometer” of climate change.

 

The Arctic ice is melting. The Arctic will continue to melt under current conditions. This will contribute significantly to a rise in sea levels. Sea level rise may be one of the most destructive effects of climate change worldwide.

 

A massive deployment of political and capital investment towards mitigation is required. The world needs to reduce and capture carbon emissions. As a planet, we cannot adapt to unconstrained carbon emissions.

 

Successful adaptation to difficult circumstances and to change in large part defines who we are as Inuit. We are shouldering the many immediate impacts of global warming. The geopolitics of greenhouse gas mitigation is constantly shifting.

 

Our strategy is twofold. First, we will continue to support and lobby for regional, national and international efforts to curb carbon emissions, understanding that ultimately this is a planetary crisis.

 

Second, as a result of what humans have already done to alter the composition of the atmosphere, there are some climate change impacts that are now inevitable.

It is for this reason that many of the world’s leading scientists and policy makers believe that adaptation has become more than just a policy option, it has become a policy imperative.

 

Inuit are working to influence Canadian government climate change priorities, including the linkages between adaptation and mitigation, and specific topics relevant to the Canadian Arctic including the proliferation of persistent organic pollution in the Arctic. We also need to develop core capacity at all levels to address climate change by effectively responding to impacts and developing long-term adaptation plans. This will require participation in strategic policy and training initiatives on climate change by all levels of government.

 

 

Here is what Inuit in Canada are saying:

 

 

Public policy so far falls short of achieving any sort of workable consensus to the challenge of climate change. Indeed, carbon emissions in so many countries’ emissions have not declined, but rather have grown since 1990.

 

We need real action on required emissions cuts. Careful and creative planning and analysis, and genuine and fair consultation, particularly in the Arctic, will always be essential. But we can no longer delay action.

 

 

Effective national policies backed up by federal spending priorities and by new legislation are essential. The scope and severity of the challenge should transcend short term partisanship and narrow regional self interest.

 

 

We need to rethink, retool and re-engineer the way we do things. We need a suite of inter-related polices, including an energy policy, an industrial policy, a transportation, and an urban policy, to make us all less dependent on fossil fuels.

 

We also need reliable international reporting, monitoring and enforcement arrangements. Progress can be made regionally as well as globally, and coalitions across jurisdictions and boundaries should be welcomed.

 

 

Our efforts to foster sustainable economic growth and environmental performance must be made mutually reinforcing. The real threat to economic well being is uncertainty. Investors will not be attracted to developing or for that matter developed countries if they have little confidence as to what states will do in relation to fundamental policy choices surrounding climate change. The costs of uncertainty must be fairly and fully assessed against the costs of the mitigation and adaptation.

 

 

The ultimate goal must be to achieve a substantial and absolute reduction in global emissions of greenhouse gases.

 

Hard emission reduction targets applied to industry must recognize competitive realities and be set within an overall policy framework that allows profitable firms to increase their investment in new technologies.

 

 

Canada, as an example clearly has the natural resources and the technical and financial skills to become a leader in new energy technologies. All such technologies - clean coal, natural gas, carbon capture and storage, nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, biofuels and others - should be open for consideration, at least at the outset, as part of a sustainable or transitional energy mix.

 

And...

 

 

 

The effects of climate change are today being experienced in northern communities. Today as we speak there are environmental and ecological impacts with social, cultural and socio-economic consequences. As well there are physical impacts on community and regional infrastructure.

 

And there are paradoxes.

 

If the actual physical impacts of climate change in the Arctic are difficult enough for Inuit to adapt to, the effects of international rulings and regulations - including on animal species important to Inuit - contribute to additional stress in our communities.

 

Today I am suggesting that all states must now turn their attention to helping their citizens cope with the havoc already brought to our planet by man-made climate change. If we as Developed States can create an International Monetary Fund and a World Bank to stabilize monetary and fiscal conditions among states, then I propose we agree in Copenhagen to establish an International Climate Change Adaptation Fund with an initial investment of $20-billion by the G20 countries to help citizens of the planet adapt to the inevitable changes and to accelerate technology transfer.

 

Last week, the United States has, unfortunately, decided to propose up listing polar bears from Appendix II to Appendix I of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

 

As people may not be aware of what CITES is, it is an international body created to regulate trade in wildlife species with the goal of ensuring that the trade of a given species does not present a threat to the continued survival of that species.

 

The current Appendix II listing means that polar bears are not necessarily threatened with extinction but that trade must be controlled to avoid trade not compatible with their survival.

 

Up listing polar bears to Appendix I essentially states that their survival is threatened with extinction and that their trade should be permitted only in exceptional circumstances.

 

Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

Where and when necessary Inuit have always been at the forefront of conservation efforts, and if we thought that the polar bear was threatened by our hunting practices we would be the first to regulate those practices. Sustainable use of any resource has been an integral part of our culture for thousands of years, and as welcome as the financial considerations of the polar bear hunt are for our people we would not turn a blind eye to the situation if the evidence indicated we were causing damage.

 

That is one case of policy being manipulated by animal rights groups.

 

Another example of misguided policy which deeply affects Inuit is taking place in Europe. I do appreciate the invitation from the European Union to speak at this conference. It gives me an opportunity to state our position clearly in an international forum regarding the EU ban on seal products. Inuit have consistently been opposed to the imposition of a ban on the import of seal products. We have also said that the exemption to the ban for Inuit is essentially useless because once the market for seal products is eliminated, it will be gone for Inuit products as well.

 

In conclusion, our message to the world is this: we are not bystanders of this complex crisis. As Arctic peoples we are at the epicentre of climate change.

 

As human beings we are charged with the responsibility of ensuring a safe and healthy world for our children and future generations for time immemorial. Let us act now in partnership to save ourselves and our planet. Remember, our children are our future.

 

Thank you.