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Circumpolar Inuit Call on Global Leaders to Act on Arctic Climate Change at COP15 in Copenhagen 

13 November, 2009 – Copenhagen, Denmark -- Inuit leaders, through the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), today released a document calling on global leaders to adopt a meaningful agreement at December’s UN Climate Change Convention (UNCCC) Conference in Copenhagen – one that will safeguard the future of the Arctic. The Inuit homeland in the Arctic has been identified by scientists as climate change region of concern, and ICC’s Call on Global Leaders notes the Arctic’s important role in moderating the global climate and controlling world-wide ocean currents.

ICC Chair, Jim Stotts, was in Copenhagen today to meeting with senior government officials of the Arctic Council and to launch ICC’s call for action by global leaders. He said, “the Arctic is at the epicentre of climate change. Inuit traditions and subsistence practices have already been assaulted.” The December Conference of the Parties (CoP) will be its 15th. “CoP 15 is the most critical climate meeting thus far”, added Mr. Stotts. “Our message to global leaders is simple: there is no more time to waste.”

Aqqaluk Lynge, ICC Vice Chair for Greenland, also in Copenhagen, said that as indigenous hosts to the COP15, Inuit will send a clear message to policymakers about the importance of action. “Government leaders at COP15 must take the strongest possible measures to protect our Arctic homeland”. He noted that the Greenland icecap’s rapid melt shows the world that Inuit are among the most vulnerable. “We need resources and technology to help us adapt.”

The Inuit Call to Global Leaders outlines six elements that a successful CoP 15 agreement must contain. Inuit leaders from across the Arctic made public these elements yesterday. Commenting on the call to action, Edward Itta, ICC Vice Chair for Alaska, noted that adaptation assistance will be a key benchmark for success in Copenhagen. “We Inuit live in so-called developed countries. Yet we are getting ready to relocate entire communities and rebuild our infrastructure as our permafrost melts and our shorelines erode”, said Mr. Itta, who is also the Mayor of the North Slope Borrough, the most northerly community in the USA.

Inuit leaders also offered their help to the global leaders. Tatiana Achirgina, ICC Vice Chair for Chukotka, said in Anadyr, Russia, “we offer our traditional knowledge, which is based on living closely with the land and sea over many generations, and is passed down from grandmother to granddaughter, grandfather to grandson”. Because traditional knowledge has contributed to groundbreaking research on climate change, Ms. Achirgina said that UN member states and their scientists should “draw upon this knowledge as they tackle climate change impacts and adaptation challenges”.

Duane Smith, ICC Vice Chair for Canada, said in Inuvik, Canada that the development and transfer of small-scale, appropriate technologies to Inuit communities is essential for moving forward. “Many Arctic communities want green technology to help offset the high cost of living. But access to green energy is still expensive here.” He stressed that a successful climate change agreement would “incorporate mechanisms to assist local communities with green technology.”

Inuit leaders will also be present in Copenhagen in December to remind UN member states of the elements of ICC’s global call for action. Mr. Stotts concluded, “we hope that the world’s political leaders will listen.”

The Call to Global Leaders is available on ICC’s website: www.inuitcircumpolar.com For more information:

In Copenhagen:
Chester Reimer
tel: +1 613 355 7765
reimer[at]crcionline.com

In Canada:
Corinne Gray
tel: +1 613 563 2642
cgray[at]inuitcircumpolar.com

In Chukotka
Tatiana Achirgina
tel: +7 42 722 24504
dareva44[at]mail.ru

In Greenland:
Aqqaluk Lynge
tel: +299 32 36 32
aqqaluk[at]inuit.org

ICC Chair Office (Alaska):
Jim Stotts
tel. +1 907 274 9058
jimmy[at]iccalaska.org

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Inuit Call to Global Leaders: Act Now on Climate Change in the Arctic 

-- November 13, 2009 --

Click here to read the entire Inuit Circumpolar Call to Action Document 

The Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) is an indigenous peoples’ organization, founded in 1977 to promote and celebrate the unity of 160,000 Inuit from Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Russia. As the international voice of Inuit, ICC is calling upon global leaders at the December UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (CoP 15) to listen to this Inuit voice. ICC works to promote Inuit rights, safeguard the Arctic environment, and protect and promote the Inuit way of life.

ICC is deeply concerned about the current and potential impacts of climate change on the cultural, spiritual, and economic health of Inuit throughout the Arctic. We are concerned about the health of the Arctic environment, which not only sustains us, but also plays a vital role in keeping the earth’s systems healthy as a whole.

Inuit call on global leaders at COP15 to:

1. Help Inuit sustain their lands and territories by Ratifying a Post-2012 agreement that will stabilize greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations at 350 parts per million by volume, in order to ensure that long-term temperature increases remain well below 2°C.

2. Recognize the impact of climate change on Inuit by Designating avoidance of climate change impacts on the Arctic as one of the key benchmarks for effectiveness of a Post-2012 process.

3. Welcome direct Inuit input by Calling upon the IPCC to develop a future assessment on climate change and Indigenous Peoples utilizing and addressing the important role of traditional knowledge in informing policy decisions.

4. Work with Inuit in their efforts to adapt to the new Arctic by Creating an International Climate Change Adaptation Fund financed by G20 countries to help citizens of the planet adapt to the inevitable changes and to accelerate technology transfer. An immediate investment of $20 billion (USD) is needed, increased to $100 billion (USD) annually by 2020.

5. Recognize the vulnerability of Inuit and other indigenous peoples by Adopting a mechanism for adaptation assistance to vulnerable groups, communities, and countries that:
a. Provides financial support and technical assistance to communities, such as Inuit, that are the most vulnerable to climate change impacts;
b. Devolves funding and decision-making to the lowest possible level (i.e. communities instead of states) and incorporates the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent as adopted by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
c. Makes available adaptation assistance to vulnerable communities and populations living within developed nations (Annex 1 countries).

6. Support Inuit in benefitting from and participating in appropriate technology development by Incorporating assistance for appropriate, small-scale, green energy technology as part of adaptation and mitigation financing in support of healthy, local economies.

In 2008, ICC convened an International Polar Year climate change policy workshop aboard the vessel CCGS Amundsen, which brought together climate change scientists and Inuit leaders to address the effects of climate change in the Arctic region. Based on insights from these leaders, we released the “Amundsen Statement: 2012 Climate Change Roadmap” (available at www.inuitcircumpolar.com), which highlighted our strategy for addressing the global threat of climate change.

Building on the Amundsen Statement 2012, the following “Call to Global Leaders” provides updates to scientific and Traditional Knowledge on climate change. Our engagement on climate change is based on our Inuit Traditional Knowledge, which offers detailed and valuable insights into a changing world, and on our role as custodians for the land where we have lived for thousands of years.

ICC’s COP15 Platform:

COP15 Action Point #1:
Ratify a Post-2012 agreement that will stabilize greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations at 350 parts per million by volume, in order to ensure that long-term temperature increases remain well below 2°C.

We need a post-2012 agreement, ratified by all the world’s leaders, that will stabilize GHG concentrations at 350 parts per million to avoid catastrophic change in Arctic systems.

Inuit and scientists agree: human-induced climate change has already caused changes in physical, biological, and social systems in the Arctic. The Arctic has warmed at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the world over the past century, and scientists predict that warming trends in the Arctic will continue to outpace other regions. An increase in average global temperatures of 2°C, currently identified as a “point of no return” for climate change impacts, would mean an increase of 3.2 to 6.6°C in the Arctic – an increase that would have major impacts on sea ice and glaciers. For every 1°C in temperature rise, sea ice decreases by approximately 1,480,000 square kilometers, an area roughly equal to the land masses of Sweden, Norway, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom combined.

The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (2005) reported that large areas of the Arctic basin would be ice free in the summer months within a decade, and the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report (2007) concurred that impacts on ice, snow, and glaciers would be significant. Updates to these reports suggest that changes are occurring faster than anticipated: in 2007, Arctic sea ice reached a record low, and in 2008, both the northeast and northwest passages were ice free for the first time in recorded history. Scientists now suggest that the Arctic will be ice free in the summer in 20 years, with most of the melt occurring in the next decade.

Although scientists have predicted changes to Arctic systems for decades, the pace of change over the past several years has surprised many. It is clear that we must do everything in our power to limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C to protect the viability of Arctic sea ice, ecosystems, and cultural traditions.

COP15 Action Point #2:
Designate avoidance of climate change impacts on the Arctic as one of the key benchmarks for effectiveness of a post-2012 process.

The Arctic’s physical and metaphoric importance in regulating earth systems and illustrating the impact of climate change should be reflected in the next global agreement on climate change.

The Arctic environment plays a unique role in global climatic and oceanic systems. Arctic ice and snow help to keep the earth cool by reflecting sunlight back into space. As sea ice and multiyear ice and snow melt, the darker ocean and earth below will absorb heat, thus amplifying the rate of climate change. Melting water from glaciers will lead to sea level rise, and may also impact ocean circulation, which impacts temperature and rainfall patterns around the world. A recent report by the United States Climate Science Program based on paleoclimate data suggested that sustained warming of even a few degrees (in the range of 2°C - 7°C) would be sufficient to cause the eventual disappearance of the Greenland ice sheet, which would raise sea level by several meters.

The information provided by scientists studying climate change has thus helped us to understand the essential interconnection of our planetary systems. The Arctic plays a uniquely important role in helping to support the ecological adaptations on which our global human civilization depends. The Arctic has played another essential role in helping the human community come to terms with climate change: impacts of climate change on Arctic ecosystems and human communities have helped illustrate the significant dangers posed by climate change. Images of impacts on Inuit and other Arctic indigenous peoples have been striking, and have helped capture the world’s attention, putting the “human face” on climate change. From the community of Shishmaref, Alaska, forced to relocate due to climate change, to the community of Tuktoyaktuk in the western Canadian Arctic, where the government is experimenting with wind power, to Inuit elders in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Chukotka struggling to find new, safe routes in sea ice and weather that is less predictable than in the past, voices from the Arctic have become part of the moral and ethical foundation demanding strong leadership on climate policy.

Because of the Arctic’s unique physical and metaphoric importance in climate change, ICC calls on world leaders to designate avoidance of climate change impacts on the Arctic as one of the key benchmarks for effectiveness of a post-2012 process.

COP15 Action Point #3:

ICC calls upon the IPCC to develop a future assessment on climate change and Indigenous Peoples and the important role of Traditional Knowledge in informing policy decisions.