Vulnerability of Subsistence Systems Due to Social and Environmental Change: A Case Study in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska
Arctic Indigenous communities have been classified as highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The remoteness of Arctic communities, their dependence upon local species and habitats, and the historical marginalization of Indigenous peoples enhances this characterization of vulnerability. However...
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crarcticinstna:10.14430/arctic68867 2024-09-15T17:49:55+00:00 Vulnerability of Subsistence Systems Due to Social and Environmental Change: A Case Study in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska Herman-Mercer, Nicole M. Laituri, Melinda Massey, Maggie Matkin, Elli Toohey, Ryan Elder, Kelly Schuster, Paul F. Mutter, Edda 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic68867 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/download/68867/53442 unknown The Arctic Institute of North America http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ARCTIC volume 72, issue 3, page 258-272 ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 journal-article 2019 crarcticinstna https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic68867 2024-07-23T04:00:24Z Arctic Indigenous communities have been classified as highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The remoteness of Arctic communities, their dependence upon local species and habitats, and the historical marginalization of Indigenous peoples enhances this characterization of vulnerability. However, vulnerability is a result of diverse historical, social, economic, political, cultural, institutional, natural resource, and environmental conditions and processes and is not easily reduced to a single metric. Furthermore, despite the widespread characterization of vulnerability, Arctic Indigenous communities are extremely resilient as evidenced by subsistence institutions that have been developed over thousands of years. We explored the vulnerability of subsistence systems in the Cup’ik village of Chevak and Yup’ik village of Kotlik through the lens of the strong seasonal dimensions of resource availability. In the context of subsistence harvesting in Alaska Native villages, vulnerability may be determined by analyzing the exposure of subsistence resources to climate change impacts, the sensitivity of a community to those impacts, and the capacity of subsistence institutions to absorb these impacts. Subsistence resources, their seasonality, and perceived impacts to these resources were investigated via semi-structured interviews and participatory mapping-calendar workshops. Results suggest that while these communities are experiencing disproportionate impacts of climate change, Indigenous ingenuity and adaptability provide an avenue for culturally appropriate adaptation strategies. However, despite this capacity for resiliency, rapid socio-cultural changes have the potential to be a barrier to community adaptation and the recent, ongoing shifts in seasonal weather patterns may make seasonally specific subsistence adaptations to landscape particularly vulnerable. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Kuskokwim Alaska Yukon Arctic Institute of North America ARCTIC 72 3 258 272 |
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Arctic Institute of North America |
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Arctic Indigenous communities have been classified as highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The remoteness of Arctic communities, their dependence upon local species and habitats, and the historical marginalization of Indigenous peoples enhances this characterization of vulnerability. However, vulnerability is a result of diverse historical, social, economic, political, cultural, institutional, natural resource, and environmental conditions and processes and is not easily reduced to a single metric. Furthermore, despite the widespread characterization of vulnerability, Arctic Indigenous communities are extremely resilient as evidenced by subsistence institutions that have been developed over thousands of years. We explored the vulnerability of subsistence systems in the Cup’ik village of Chevak and Yup’ik village of Kotlik through the lens of the strong seasonal dimensions of resource availability. In the context of subsistence harvesting in Alaska Native villages, vulnerability may be determined by analyzing the exposure of subsistence resources to climate change impacts, the sensitivity of a community to those impacts, and the capacity of subsistence institutions to absorb these impacts. Subsistence resources, their seasonality, and perceived impacts to these resources were investigated via semi-structured interviews and participatory mapping-calendar workshops. Results suggest that while these communities are experiencing disproportionate impacts of climate change, Indigenous ingenuity and adaptability provide an avenue for culturally appropriate adaptation strategies. However, despite this capacity for resiliency, rapid socio-cultural changes have the potential to be a barrier to community adaptation and the recent, ongoing shifts in seasonal weather patterns may make seasonally specific subsistence adaptations to landscape particularly vulnerable. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Herman-Mercer, Nicole M. Laituri, Melinda Massey, Maggie Matkin, Elli Toohey, Ryan Elder, Kelly Schuster, Paul F. Mutter, Edda |
spellingShingle |
Herman-Mercer, Nicole M. Laituri, Melinda Massey, Maggie Matkin, Elli Toohey, Ryan Elder, Kelly Schuster, Paul F. Mutter, Edda Vulnerability of Subsistence Systems Due to Social and Environmental Change: A Case Study in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska |
author_facet |
Herman-Mercer, Nicole M. Laituri, Melinda Massey, Maggie Matkin, Elli Toohey, Ryan Elder, Kelly Schuster, Paul F. Mutter, Edda |
author_sort |
Herman-Mercer, Nicole M. |
title |
Vulnerability of Subsistence Systems Due to Social and Environmental Change: A Case Study in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska |
title_short |
Vulnerability of Subsistence Systems Due to Social and Environmental Change: A Case Study in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska |
title_full |
Vulnerability of Subsistence Systems Due to Social and Environmental Change: A Case Study in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Vulnerability of Subsistence Systems Due to Social and Environmental Change: A Case Study in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Vulnerability of Subsistence Systems Due to Social and Environmental Change: A Case Study in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska |
title_sort |
vulnerability of subsistence systems due to social and environmental change: a case study in the yukon-kuskokwim delta, alaska |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic68867 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/download/68867/53442 |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Kuskokwim Alaska Yukon |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Kuskokwim Alaska Yukon |
op_source |
ARCTIC volume 72, issue 3, page 258-272 ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic68867 |
container_title |
ARCTIC |
container_volume |
72 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
258 |
op_container_end_page |
272 |
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1810291710190682112 |