Registered users receive a variety of benefits including the ability to customize email alerts, create favorite journals list, and save searches.
Please note that a BioOne web account does not automatically grant access to full-text content. An institutional or society member subscription is required to view non-Open Access content.
Contact helpdesk@bioone.org with any questions.
KEYWORDS: Inuit culture, global change, participatory action research, sustainable community development, well-being, food and energy independence, culture Inuit, changement climatique, recherche-action participative, développement communautaire durable, bien-être, indépendance alimentaire et énergétique
Adjusting to global climate and socio-environmental changes has become a major issue for many societies, especially in the Arctic. Many Inuit wish to better understand the changes taking place. In 2013, an international Observatory of Human–Environment Interactions (OHMi) was established in Nunavik to identify these changes, study their cumulative impact on the socio-ecosystemand to help develop adaptation measures to improve the well-being of Inuit communities. To this end, a team of academics and local Inuit partners joined forces to develop an integrated, interdisciplinary, collaborative research program. Using a participatory action research (PAR) approach, the OHMi Nunavik set the following research priorities: elder-youth knowledge transmission, northern agriculture, preservation of Inuit culture, language and identity, protected areas, mining employment, natural hazards and risks, and wildlife vulnerability. By strengthening the collaborations between multidisciplinary Canadian and French research teams, the OHMi Nunavik program integrates local and scientific knowledge both in planning the research and in disseminating the results.
Disruptions in the way of life of indigenous peoples from the Far North have greatly affected their ability to meet their food needs. The implementation of community greenhouse and gardening projects is one of the initiatives taken to address this issue in Nunavik. Through a mixed-method approach, we analyze social benefits and challenges, as well as the potential food productivity and nutritional contributions of these projects. We discuss the potential of current greenhouse energy optimization scenarios and we address the benefits of Kuujjuaq's greenhouse in terms of carbon dioxide mitigation. Discussions with the local stakeholders highlighted technical challenges regarding the energy supply, its efficient management and the supply of soil in sufficient quantities. Our results highlight the interconnectedness and complexity of food and energy systems in Nunavik. They show that the establishment of local fresh food production corresponds to a need expressed by the residents and could bypass some of the difficulties associated with the conveyance and freshness of food sold at the supermarket. They also indicate that the implementation of such production poses many challenges that require taking into account the geographical isolation, the arctic climate and the availability of local resources.
We present the results of a study of the morphometric properties of a talus slope in subarctic Quebec (Nunavik) using field-based methods, including geomorphological, granulometric and plant distribution surveys, and statistical analyses. Slope processes are currently active, despite the limited altitudinal difference between the apical-to-distal parts of the slope and the imminent depletion of the debris supply. The near-rectilinear long profiles of the talus highlight the distribution of debris across the slope and demonstrate that free-fall of rock fragments is not the only process operating (redistribution is higher in the westernmost profile, which exhibits a clear concave shape). The spatial distribution of vegetation covering the screes highlights the recent age of parts of the talus, showing that present-day processes are still active, although limited. The short remaining apical rockwall highlights the shortage of debris following deglaciation, as debris are mostly supplied by freeze-thaw processes to the talus, and are then reworked by other processes which need to be better defined in subsequent research.
This article reports the views, feelings and day-to-day experience of the Arctic environment by the Inuit people of Nunavik (Quebec, Canada), looking at the multiple dimensions of their surroundings. It focuses on understanding and characterising contemporary Inuit relationships with the environment, the meaning and the values given to the latter, and how they are evolving. Adopting a methodology that combines multi-generational Inuit photography, two short films by Inuit youth, interviews, and group discussions at community screenings provides an understanding of Inuit-environment interlinkages and brings forward an Indigenous representation of the Arctic. Analyses highlight how different generations express: (i) the characteristics of the environment as defined and perceived from the Inuit point of view; (ii) how Inuit-environment interlinkages sustain well-being, and (iii) how Inuit-environment interlinkages evolve in response to socio-environmental changes. Despite the major environmental and social changes experienced by the Nunavik Inuit over the past 50 years, their link to the environment remains rooted in history and tinted by their holistic viewpoint.
José Gérin-Lajoie, Thora M. Herrmann, Gwyneth A. MacMillan, Émilie Hébert-Houle, Mathieu Monfette, Justine A. Rowell, Tim Anaviapik Soucie, Hilda Snowball, Eleonora Townley, Esther Lévesque, Marc Amyot, Jan Franssen, Jean-Pierre Dedieu
KEYWORDS: community-based environmental monitoring, participatory action research, traditional ecological knowledge, environmental education and stewardship, George River watershed, Nunavik, suivi environnemental communautaire, rechercheaction participative, savoir écologique traditionnel, éducation à l'Environnement, bassin versant de la rivière George
There is increasing interest in community-based environmentalmonitoring (CBEM) in Canada's Northin response to the rising impacts of resource exploitation and climate change, and with increased recognition of indigenous knowledge. IMALIRIJIIT, meaning those who study water in Inuktitut, is a CBEM programinvolving science land camps, capacity-building workshops, and scientific data collection with the participation of youth, elders, local experts, and researchers. It was coinitiated by the Inuit community of Kangiqsualujjuaq (Nunavik, Quebec) and university researchers. This hands-on and landbased programaims to establish a sustainable environmental monitoring program of the George River, before the start of a rare earth elements (REEs) mining project in its upper watershed. The community was concerned about potential impacts on the river, as it is crucial to fishing, hunting, and gathering. The community therefore wanted its own independent and long-term environmental monitoring program to collect baseline data and promote local capacity-building. IMALIRIJIIT includes water-quality measurements, bio-indicators, contaminant and REE biomonitoring in traditional food, remote-sensing analysis of water-quality parameters and vegetation change at thewatershed scale, as well as interactive mapping of traditional ecological. IMALIRIJIIT outcomes and challenges are discussed to identify conditions for successful implementation of CBEM and environmental stewardship.
This article is only available to subscribers. It is not available for individual sale.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have
purchased or subscribe to this BioOne eBook Collection. You are receiving
this notice because your organization may not have this eBook access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users-please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
Additional information about institution subscriptions can be foundhere