Danger to our Polar Landscapes

 

Man vs. Nature and its consequences:
Bio217 Home Introduction Climate Change: Overall & Polar Landscape Changes in Polar Regions Ecosystem Change in Polar Regions Present Changes in: Flora, Fauna, and Marine Life Predicted Changes in: Flora, Fauna, and Marine Life Impacts on Arctic Peoples References

The human inhabitants of the Arctic, particularly the indigenous populations, are also facing a number of new challenges related to climate change. The Arctic has been inhabited continuously for thousands of years by a variety of cultures who build their way of life around high mobility, a diverse economy, a comprehensive use of the natural resources at their disposal, and an accurate and reliable knowledge of their local environment (4). It is a highly adaptive and flexible subsistence strategy that has served them well for millennia. Recent climate change has been occurring at such an accelerated rate, however, that the adaptive ability of these populations is severely strained and even exceeded in some places.

From a subsistence standpoint there are numerous challenges now facing these indigenous groups. Shifts in the range of various food plants and animals, and the migratory patterns of game, in response to the warming climate, have compromised the ability of tribal elders and wise people to predict the availability and behavior of these species. Because of this uncertainty, food security has become an issue. Changes in the extent of sea ice and the quality of snow and river ice restrict the ability of hunters to adjust to the changing
distribution of resources, largely by inhibiting the freedom with which they can move about their environment. Premature spring/summer thaws and the formation of layers of surface ice have already had large, negative effects on the grazing and migration of caribou and reindeer (4).

A wide variety of human health and safety issues have also grown up out of climate related changes over the last few decades. Warmer temperatures have created conditions suitable for diseases previously unseen at such high latitudes (such as West Nile, with the arrival of the mosquito), and waterborne diseases are also on the rise. The threats to traditional subsistence strategies outlined above has forced some groups to supplement their diets with more western or modern fare, which has in turn given rise to higher incidences of obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Depression, substance abuse,
and other social ills are also on the increase (8). Changes in snow pack, ice/permafrost, and precipitation present more of a safety concern, as they bring about landslides, flooding, coastal erosion, and the loss of traditional road networks based on frozen bodies of water (4). In some cases these concerns are so grave that it is necessary to move entire villages.

Not all human related impacts are negative, however. Melting sea ice is projected to open shipping lanes, and the northward expansion of more temperate eco-zones is likely to lead to the expansion of agriculture as climate becomes more hospitable and the growing season lengthens. Similarly, the tourist industry is likely to grow at both poles as access becomes easier (2).