Climate change is a major challenge to Arctic and other Indigenous peoples, but not the only and often not the most pressing one. We propose re-framing the treatment of climate change in policy and research, to make sure health, poverty, education, cultural vitality, equity, justice, and other topics highlighted by the people themselves and not just climate science also get the attention they deserve in research on global and regional environmental change. Climate change can often exacerbate other problems, but a singular focus on climate changeas is often the case in much existing environmental literature on the Arctic and elsewherecan distract from actions that can be taken now to improve the lives of Arctic peoples. The same logic also applies elsewhere in the world, where diverse residents face a host of challenges, opportunities, and obstacles, with climate change but one among many issues. Our proposed approach to regional and global environmental change research draws on the ideas of decolonization, emphasizing collaborative approaches and Indigenous voices in research and policy instead of top-down measures designed outside the affected communities. Only in this way of contextualizing human-environmental experiences can the full effects of climate change be understoodand appropriate responses developed and carried out to adapt to global change.
1.Huntington Consulting, 23834 Clearing Dr, Eagle River, AK 99577 USA 2.Univ Oregon, Robert D Clark Honors Coll, Eugene, OR 97403 USA 3.Southcent Fdn, Anchorage, AK 99508 USA 4.Univ Lapland, Arctic Ctr, Rovaniemi 96101, Finland 5.Univ Colorado, Natl Snow & Ice Data Ctr, Boulder, CO 80309 USA 6.Greenland Inst Nat Resources, Greenland Climate Res Ctr, Nuuk 3900, Greenland 7.North Eastern Fed Univ, Fac Law, Yakutsk 677000, Republic Of Sak, Russia 8.UiT Arctic Univ Norway, Ctr Peace Studies, N-9037 Tromso, Norway 9.Savoonga Whaling Captains Assoc, Savoonga, AK 99769 USA
Recommended Citation:
Huntington, Henry P.,Carey, Mark,Apok, Charlene,et al. Climate change in context: putting people first in the Arctic[J]. REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE,2019-01-01,19(4):1217-1223