Vulnerability of subsistence systems due to social and environmental change: A case study in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska

Arctic
By: , and 

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Abstract

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 Alaskan 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.

Study Area

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Vulnerability of subsistence systems due to social and environmental change: A case study in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska
Series title Arctic
DOI 10.14430/arctic68867
Volume 72
Issue 3
Year Published 2019
Language English
Publisher Arctic Institute of North America
Contributing office(s) WMA - Integrated Information Dissemination Division
Description 15 p.
First page 258
Last page 272
Country United States
State Alaska
Other Geospatial Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta
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