| Summary: | The research presented herein examines the vulnerability of an Inuit food system to climate change in the context of multiple climatic and non-climatic stressors through a case study of Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories (NT), Canada. More exactly, the community-identified collaborative research project was completed with residents of Ulukhaktok to understand how climate and socio-economic change is impacting key attributes of the community’s dual food system including food availability, access, quality and storage. Consistent with the vulnerability approach to studying impacts of climatic change, attention was directed to current climatic and non-climatic exposure-sensitivities and adaptations. Data were collected from secondary sources, semi-structured interviews with a cross-section of community members (n=39) and key informants (n= 3), and participant observation. The collected evidence reveals that multiple stressors, both climatic and non-climatic, impact food security. Further, the results point to the need for Inuit food sovereignty as well as the need to reinforce both formal and informal adaptation mechanisms. In terms of its contributions to more universal knowledge, the research establishes the need for a more comprehensive framework to assess food security, which includes attention to food storage.
|
|---|