Paper short abstract:

This paper introduces the outcomes of a trans-disciplinary risk analysis of permafrost thaw in Arctic coastal regions and explores related understandings and perceptions of Indigenous land users and knowledge holders in Northwestern Turtle Island (North America) of changes and uncertainties.

Paper long abstract:

his paper introduces the outcomes of a trans-disciplinary risk analysis of permafrost thaw in Arctic coastal regions conducted within the Nunataryuk project. It also explores related understandings and perceptions of Indigenous land users and knowledge holders in Northwestern Turtle Island (North America) through ethnographic interviews. Rivers, sea ice, lakes and the Arctic Ocean, as well as roads, trails and the tundra itself, and their susceptibility to minor changes in temperatures play a crucial role in the maintenance of historically highly mobile Inuit and First Nation ways of life. The highly localized, heterogeneous physical processes of thawing ground pose several hazards to local populations: infrastructure failure, disruption of mobility and supply, a potential decrease in water quality, challenges for food security and exposure to infectious diseases & contaminants. All of these hazards have significant implications for health and wellbeing to both humans and their ecosystems, while also affecting recreation and being in nature, financial security, Arctic (Indigenous) cultures and languages, and fate control. Many uncertainties arise from what is hidden inside the Mackenzie River delta and Beaufort Sea waters, such as contaminants and infectious diseases, but also silt, bacteria and algae affecting water quality. Through the ethnographic interviews uncertainties in relation to increased permafrost thaw and ways of navigating them become clearly visible, speaking to the resilience of Inuvialuit and Gwich’in First Nations on the one hand, as well as to the increase of uncertainty in terms of climate changes on the other.