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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ftunivcalgaryojs:oai:journalhosting.ucalgary.ca:article/68867 2023-05-15T14:19:02+02:00 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 2019-09-09 application/pdf https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/68867 eng eng The Arctic Institute of North America https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/68867/53442 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/68867 Copyright (c) 2019 ARCTIC ARCTIC; Vol. 72 No. 3 (2019): September: 215-335; 258-272 1923-1245 0004-0843 Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Alaska Alaska Native villages vulnerability resilience subsistence Yup’ik Cup’ik delta Yukon-Kuskokwim villages autochtones de l’Alaska vulnérabilité résilience subsistance info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion research-article 2019 ftunivcalgaryojs 2022-07-03T17:29:58Z 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. Les collectivités autochtones de l’Arctique sont classées comme étant fortement vulnérables aux incidences du changement climatique. L’éloignement des ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Climate change Kuskokwim Alaska Yukon University of Calgary Journal Hosting Arctic Yukon ARCTIC 72 3 258 272 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Calgary Journal Hosting |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcalgaryojs |
language |
English |
topic |
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Alaska Alaska Native villages vulnerability resilience subsistence Yup’ik Cup’ik delta Yukon-Kuskokwim villages autochtones de l’Alaska vulnérabilité résilience subsistance |
spellingShingle |
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Alaska Alaska Native villages vulnerability resilience subsistence Yup’ik Cup’ik delta Yukon-Kuskokwim villages autochtones de l’Alaska vulnérabilité résilience subsistance 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 |
topic_facet |
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Alaska Alaska Native villages vulnerability resilience subsistence Yup’ik Cup’ik delta Yukon-Kuskokwim villages autochtones de l’Alaska vulnérabilité résilience subsistance |
description |
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. Les collectivités autochtones de l’Arctique sont classées comme étant fortement vulnérables aux incidences du changement climatique. L’éloignement des ... |
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 |
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 |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/68867 |
geographic |
Arctic Yukon |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Yukon |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Climate change Kuskokwim Alaska Yukon |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Climate change Kuskokwim Alaska Yukon |
op_source |
ARCTIC; Vol. 72 No. 3 (2019): September: 215-335; 258-272 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_relation |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/68867/53442 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/68867 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2019 ARCTIC |
container_title |
ARCTIC |
container_volume |
72 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
258 |
op_container_end_page |
272 |
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1766290568319598592 |