People who live in Canadian Arctic have been experiencing rapid changes on social, economic and political in the last half century. In recent years, Arctic communities have also experienced a series of hazards which are caused by climate change. Global and local observation and instrumental measurements have recorded that the frequency and magnitude of hazardous conditions in Arctic have been increasing, including permafrost thaw, coastal erosion, ice instability, and increases in average temperatures and precipitation (Nickels 2006). These changes bring more risk into traveling on sea ice, affected access to hunting and fishing areas, and have damaged community infrastructure, like buildings, roads, trails, and airports (Anisimov, 2005). These …show more content…
It is obvious that effective research for climate change cannot be done without community involvement and national or sub-national initiatives are hard to identify the core environmental issues in communities. By communicating with different groups in communities, researchers are able to find out most vulnerable issues so that the process of decision-making in national level and sub-national level are more effectiveness. In the Dorset–Pang–Igloolik case study, which is a study that undertaken with three coastal Inuit communities around Baffin Island, Nunavut: Cape Dorset, Pangnirtung and Igloolik, gaps in this area of research were identified after a discussion between researchers and local governments and members, education institutes, and different organizations, such as Nunavut Tunngavik Inc, and Qikiqtani Inuit Association who are able to provide local information and data that attribute to the community-environment research (Laidler & Elee, 2008). In the Ulukhaktok study, a study that conducted with the a coastal Inuvialuit community of Ulukhaktok (formally Holman), researchers communicated with representatives from different local Inuit organizations, such as Inuvialuit Joint Secretariat, Inuvialuit Game Council, and Inuit Circumpolar Council, to obtain information which include the data of changes in environment and concern of impacts on daily activities in the community (Pearce, 2006). As a result, those community-environment researches which identified core issues in Arctic communities have been applied in an International Polar Year Project, Community Adaptation and Vulnerability in Arctic Regions to help inform adaptive strategies and policies in Arctic