Jean Marie River (Tthets’éhk’edélî), Northwest Territories
Year(s) Funded: 2010-2011
Topic Area: Knowledge Sharing / Education Contact: Margaret Ireland, Resource Development Coordinator ([email protected]) Partners: Jean Marie River First Nation, PACTeam Canada Inc. Website: http://jmrfn.com Title: Impacts to the Health and Wellness of Jean Marie River First Nation in the Face of a Changing Climate
Action: This project is an assessment of Jean Marie River First Nation’s vulnerability to health related impacts associated with climate change. The project also looked at what adaptation strategies are available to the community to respond to these impacts. Through community meetings, workshops, and presentations at the Jean Marie River School awareness of climate change as both a global and local issue was raised. The information disseminated originated from a combination of scientific knowledge and from traditional knowledge shared by Elders and land users. Results: The community has increased awareness of the far ranging impacts of a changing climate on different aspects of health. The community has taken its first step towards a proactive approach to identifying current and potential impacts associated with climate change, as well as thinking about how to respond to these impacts before they become too severe. Furthermore, by exploring initial ideas for adaptation strategies the community has prioritized what areas the community is most vulnerable, how severe impacts are (or will be), and the ability for the community to adapt to reduce vulnerabilities and/or increase resiliency to climate change. Outputs: The Jean Marie River First Nation produced a baseline study to use as a platform to address and respond to climate change impacts that provides direction and concrete recommendations for their community. From this baseline study several possible next steps were identified by community members to address and take action to prevent and/or minimize the negative impacts of climate change. Future community action needs to move beyond developing and implementing adaptation strategies; the community needs to move towards adaptive management. Adaptive management allows for adaptation strategies to be integrated into applicable aspects of our community planning, land use planning, health initiatives, culture camps, education, etc. Additional Resources & Publications
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