Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released the second report for its sixth major assessment of the science of climate change; Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. This report is a key input for governments attending the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and informs international negotiations to address climate change. Hannah Tait Neufeld, Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change member, assistant professor in the School of Public Health Sciences and a Canada Research Chair, is a contributing author for chapter 7 that assessed the health, wellbeing and the changing structure of communities. She discusses key findings for Indigenous Peoples. 

As a contributing author to chapter 7 in the latest IPCC report, you were asked by the chapter leads to prepare sections on the impacts to Indigenous Peoples’ health and wellbeing in a changing climate. What was that like?

To be honest if felt quite daunting. I was encouraged when another contributor, Dr. Lena Maria Nilsson, a Sami woman, was brought on to co-write much of the text with me. I learned a great deal from her as part of the writing process, which was very collaborative. We had a very short lead-time to work with as well, and needed to work across time zones amidst COVID setbacks and delays.

Overall it was a rewarding experience that encouraged me to think beyond the immediate and more visible climate challenges faced by Indigenous Peoples around the world with the impacts on their lands, waters and ways of life. I was at the same time encouraged to learn from the innovation in adaptation that we were able to highlight in a number of case studies.

What process did you follow in preparing your contribution on this topic to highlight the experiences of Indigenous Peoples from diverse global perspectives? What was the global distribution of the literature like?

As a team, we assessed over 200 peer-reviewed publications to assess how climate change has or is currently affecting the wellbeing and health of Indigenous Peoples, globally and regionally.

We structured our review of this body of literature into the primary (immediate) effects of climate change, along with secondary (ecosystem related) impacts as well as tertiary (culture-related) consequences.

A significant number of studies in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions along with Indigenous Peoples living among the Oceanic Islands documented the more primary effects associated with hazardous and unpredictable weather events such as increased numbers of freezing thawing cycles in the north along with irreversible flooding due to rising sea levels. Higher proportions of climate-related infectious diseases as secondary health effects were reported among Indigenous Peoples within Australia and Russia along with increased human-animal conflicts in Namibia, Bangladesh and Arctic regions within Canada due to plant food scarcities. Tertiary effects were the most widely described among Indigenous Peoples globally. These changes included anxiety, distress and other mental health impacts due to direct and indirect processes of land dispossession. These circumstances were profiled in the literature primarily within urban settings in East Africa, along with northern and southern regions of Canada.

Why did you decide to include several case studies as part of this section of the chapter? What communities did you profile?

Our aim was to illustrate, in greater detail, examples of innovation in Indigenous Peoples’ adaptation to climate risks according to primary, secondary and tertiary threats to health and wellbeing.

Indigenous communities within Israel, Canada, Uganda and Sweden were included. For example, allowing forest grazing to Bedouin pastoralists within Israel has been found to decrease risk of wildfires and increase food sovereignty. Allowing Bedouin pastoralists to graze their goats outside of cities and in forests again, the amount of combustible undergrowth has decreased reducing risk of wildfire-related injuries and facilitating practices associated with the health and wellbeing of the Bedouin.

What are some future concerns for Indigenous Peoples’ health and wellbeing in the face of climate change?

Future risks for Indigenous Peoples’ health and wellbeing in a changing climate coincide to a large extent with already reported observations. Primary health threats are likely to continue increasing in magnitude as well as frequency, along with secondary health threats. Tertiary impacts tend to be more complex and multifactorial and would not necessarily disappear by magically solving the climate crisis. Climate change is unfortunately compounding many factors resulting in social exclusion and land dispossession that will most likely continue to perpetuate inequalities. Addressing these underlying structural determinants and reinforcing pathways of Indigenous knowledge, as described in the case studies, can potentially divert these socio-ecological shocks to reduce future risks and build pathways of adaptation.

How can future risks be mitigated for Indigenous Peoples? Do processes of colonization continue to play a role?

The health and equity impacts of climate change for Indigenous Peoples, we argue, include policies and actions that take into consideration the ongoing legacies of colonization. Colonization constrains the design and diversity of potential climate and health responses in its ongoing suppression of Indigenous knowledge systems that are critical in supporting community-led actions to reduce future risk. The relevance of these knowledge systems, which are holistic and tied to relationships among all living things, cannot be ignored at this critical time.

Hannah Tait Neufeld

Hannah Tait Neufeld is an IC3 member, assistant professor in the School of Public Health Sciences and a Canada Research Chair. She is a contributing author for chapter 7 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), a chapter that assessed the health, wellbeing and the changing structure of communities. Her research interests include Indigenous health and wellbeing, including the socio-ecological determinants impacting Indigenous food environments.