Adaptation Planning for Climate Change and Subsistence Economies in two Inuvialuit Communities

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region

Tags: social sciences, climate change, subsistence, community engagement, social adaptation

Principal Investigator: Pearce, Tristan D (27)
Licence Number: 14627
Organization: ArcticNorth Consulting
Licensed Year(s): 2010
Issued: Jan 14, 2010
Project Team: Dr. James Ford (Principal Investigator 2, ArcticNorth Consulting), Frank Duerden (Researcher, ArcticNorth Consulting), Amanda Caron (Researcher, ArcticNorth Consulting)

Objective(s): To work in collaboration with community members, local stakeholders, scientists and policy makers to develop adaptation plans that address climate change vulnerabilities in the subsistence economies in two communities in the ISR.

Project Description: The researcher will work in collaboration with community members, local stakeholders, scientists and policy makers to develop adaptation plans that address climate change vulnerabilities in the subsistence economies in two communities in the ISR. The project will use participatory methods to develop adaptation plans in the case study communities: • Secondary sources of information: Existing documentation of vulnerabilities and adaptations in the communities will form the basis of this project. Past research conducted in the communities provides the applicants with a clear starting point for which to initiate adaptation planning. • Community consultation visits will be made to both communities to discuss the project, identify key stakeholders and local partners, and to integrate community feedback into the project design. A local advisory committee will be formed as well as a scientific committee, drawing on the knowledge and expertise of people working in the community and region. • Community Workshops will be conducted in the communities that engage a cross-section of community members. The project team will work with the local advisory committee to prepare documents that outline key vulnerabilities and adaptive strategies already documented in the communities and these documents will serve as the starting points for discussions on adaptation options. During the workshops the researcher will develop a list of possible adaptations and test them against a set of locally identified criteria (e.g. realism, significance, urgency, resources, capacity, etc.). The project team will work closely with the local advisory committee to design workshops that meet the community’s needs and are effective at engaging a cross-section of community members in a comfortable setting. This will most likely mean conducting a series of workshops over several weeks to ensure that community members have the opportunity to include their perspectives and to work with local organizations to identify the feasibility of some adaptation options. • Adaptation planning document: The project team will work with the local advisory committees to draft adaptation planning documents for use by the community and regional and federal decision makers. As in other projects conducted by the applicants, this project will be conducted as a 'community-researcher' partnership. Community members will be engaged in research planning and development, the collection of data in the community, presentation of results and communication of results back to the community and elsewhere. Firstly, the applicants will visit the community to discuss the research project with community organizations (HTC, Community Corporation, Hamlet Council, etc.). This will provide an opportunity to integrate community feedback into the research proposal. Employment opportunities will be offered for local researchers, translation/interpretation, and for younger generation community members (research mentorship). The aim of this project is to engage the community to develop adaptation planning tools for climate change; therefore, the community will be involved in all stages of the research process. Research updates and final results will be communicated back to individuals and communities through a variety of communication techniques including: local radio; posters; community research reports translated into the local language; public presentations; school presentations; and household visits. Local people will be engaged throughout the research process and research updates will be provided to the community during the research. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from January 14 to December 31, 2010.