‘My appetite and mind would go’: Inuit perceptions of (im)mobility and wellbeing loss under climate change across Inuit Nunangat in the Canadian Arctic

• Published in: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
• Main Authors: Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, Anna Hoad, Mei L. Trueba
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature 2024
• Subjects: History of scholarship and learning. The humanities; AZ20-999; Social Sciences; H; Arctic; Canada; Climate change; inuit
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-02706-1; https://doaj.org/article/7bcff4f3c9ce4a729559ddaeae9c9ba0

Abstract The academic literature on personal experiences of climate-induced wellbeing erosion (often conceptualised as ‘non-economic losses and damages’) is still limited. This represents a serious climate policy gap that hinders support for marginalised people across the world including Indigenous People. Lately, we have seen a rapid growth in empirical studies exploring linkages between climate change and mental health among Indigenous Inuit in Canada. However, its association with human (im)mobility remains unexplored. This review article brings together the empirical evidence of Inuit experiences and perceptions of climate-related wellbeing loss and (im)mobility while providing climate policy with guidance for appropriate action. The systematic review investigates how Inuit in Arctic Canada felt that climatic changes impacted their (im)mobility and mental health while putting these feelings into a wider context of colonial violence, forced child removal, the residential schools, and other systematic human rights abuses. Twelve electronic databases (four specific to Arctic research) were searched for English and French, peer reviewed, qualitative studies published between 2000 and 2021. Fifteen selected articles were analysed using NVivo and thematic narrative analysis from a climate-violence-health nexus systems approach. Three overarching climate-related wellbeing loss themes, all strongly intertwined with feelings of immobility, emerged from the literature namely ‘identity and cultural loss’, ‘land connection as a source of healing’, and ‘changing environment triggering emotional distress’. The narratives circled around Inuit land connection and how climate-induced temporary (im)mobility interrupted this relationship. Climatic changes isolated Inuit away from the land and cut off their ability to partake in land activities. This strongly eroded Inuit wellbeing, expressed through distress, anxiety, depression, social tension, suicide ideation and deep feelings of cultural loss. The findings showed how Inuit ...