Spotlight: People of the Whales (Part 1)

Over the next two posts, I would like to talk a bit about the Inupiat people of Barrow in Arctic Alaska and their close connection to one particular whale species- the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus). The bowhead whale has sustained the Inupiat for centuries, but Inupiaq life has been jeopardised by climate change, commercial hunting, and toxics which accumulate in the arctic.

A bowhead skull rests on the ice outside Barrow

The Inupiats call the bowhead whale 'agviq'. The animal is central to Inupiaq culture, permeating songs, stories, and ceremonies throughout the year. In fact, the Inupiaq creation story recounts how the very land they live upon was formed after the death of a bowhead whale, and the community often refer to themselves as  the 'People of the Whales'. Not only does the whale provide food during its migration past Barrow, but the celebrations associated with the biannual whale harvests contribute to social wellbeing in the harsh Arctic environment.

'No whale harvest, no music': Dr Sakakibara talks about her research on how the relationship between human and whale is changing

Bowheads can grow to about 60 ft., live to over 100 years old, and use their massive skulls (which account for up to 40% of their total body length) to break through thick layers of ice. In the spring, the bowhead migrates from the northern Bering Sea, where it overwinters, to its summering grounds in the Canadian Arctic. In Autumn, it moves westward past Barrow again. The Inupiat rely on sea ice to hunt during both these seasons, but mean temperature in the Arctic are rising faster than the global average and the ice is thinning. During her research on the Inupiat and climate change, Dr Sakakibara found that many Inupiat, and other indigenous neighbours in the region, agree that anthropogenic climate change is the main reason for changes in the physical and biological systems across the Arctic. Climate change severely threatens hunting practices, as indigenous whalers are forced to venture dangerously further into the ocean to pursue whales as they move further away from the warming coasts into colder waters.

Climate change is not the only threat to the Inupiat. Both natural processes and anthropogenic activities can release contaminants into the water, which may filter into the food chain. O'Hara et al. provide a review of contaminants found in bowhead whale tissues. The good news is that for now, bowhead whales mostly have low concentrations of contaminants such as metals, radionuclides, and organochlorines. However, oil extraction continues to take place along the bowhead's migration route, raising concerns over spills and future exposure of the whale to petroleum hydrocarbons. With up to 75% of Inupiat households in Barrow consuming whale meat, contaminants found in the bowhead whale could easily be transferred to the Native human population. Alternatively, if the Inupiat are deterred from eating traditional foods, such as whale and seal meat, it has been suggested that there may be a general decline in health due to dietary change.

Celebrating with a selfie 

The Inupiat and their proto-Inuit ancestors have sustainably hunted the whales for at least 2500 years, but in 1848, this all changed when Captain Thomas Roys discovered the bowhead population in the Arctic. An estimated 18,650 bowheads were killed during an era of commercial whaling in the Bering Sea from 1848 to 1910. In my next post, I will explore the effects that commercial whaling, and the subsequent classification of the bowhead as an endangered species, had on the Inupiat.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! Now as a zoology student, most of my time is occupied by non-human animals. I do still have a soft spot for our own species though, and so the aim of this blog is to shed some light on how indigenous peoples are affected by environmental change.

64-year old Inuit, Albert Lukassan, standing on the rapidly disappearing ice of Greenland's Uummannaq Fjord

64-year old Inuit, Albert Lukassan, standing on the rapidly disappearing ice of Greenland's Uummannaq Fjord 

Who are Indigenous Peoples?

According to the UN, there are more than 370 million indigenous peoples (IP) across 70 countries, from the Inuit in the Arctic to the Maasai in East Africa. Many IP live in the most biologically rich regions of the planet,with human cultural diversity closely mirroring levels of biodiversity. This has been quantified in a paper by Gorenflo et al., which also found that biodiversity hotspots harbour 70% of the world's languages. Indigenous peoples are incredibly diverse, making an official definition almost impossible, but they are generally united by a close relationship with the natural environment.

A:biodiversity hotspots and high wilderness areas;
 B: 2009 geographic distribution of indigenous or non-migrant languages
(Gorenflo et al. 2012)

Threats

A reliance on natural resources means that IP are disproportionately affected by environmental changes, including climate change, pollution, and deforestation. This is most apparent in the Arctic, which is home to around 400,000 IP including the Inuit and Sami. Between 1976 and 2016, the monthly September ice extent shows a linear rate of decline of 13.3% per decade. For these groups, hunting, fishing, homes, and travel all depend on stable ice, and so rising temperatures will severely impact food security and health. Furthermore, shifts in phenology due to climate change have made indigenous knowledge unreliable. The Dayak people of Borneo, for example, traditionally use bird migration patterns to dictate hunting or cultivation routines, but these have changed and are no longer useful as guides.  

Forms of environmental degradation, such as deforestation, also threatens indigenous communities. Extensive logging in Malaysia to make way for rubber or oil palm plantations has devastated the Temiar people, who are finding it increasingly difficult to hunt and gather food from the remaining forests. However, in a few cases, it has been suggested that indigenous peoples may actually be contributing to issues such as localised overhunting and habitat loss due to subsistence agriculture- creating a conflict which I hope to discuss in a future post.

Resistance

Despite the threats that IP face, they are not just passive victims and continue to resist or adapt to changes in their environment. Many indigenous leaders have sacrificed their lives to defend their communities and way of life. Earlier this year, Berta Cáceres, a prominent leader of the indigenous Lenca people in Honduras, was assassinated in her home. Cáceres was an environmental activist, who was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015 for defending the Gualcarque River from the Agua Zarca Dam project. The name of this blog is based on the opening of her acceptance speech:

‘In our worldviews, we are beings who come from the Earth, from the water and from corn. The Lenca people are ancestral guardians of the rivers, in turn protected by the spirits of young girls, who teach us that giving our lives in various ways for the protection of the rivers is giving our lives for the well-being of humanity and of this planet.’

Future posts

In subsequent posts, I will explore the ways in which changes in climate and land use affect the health, cultures and livelihoods of indigenous peoples around the world. Through a few 'spotlight' posts, I will try to get an insight into individual communities around the globe and how environmental change specifically affects them. I will also focus on how Indigenous communities are adapting to these changes, and the important role they play in climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation, including current international conferences and events.