Canadians will be affected to some extent by the impacts associated to climate change such as rising temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns and changes in other weather events.
Climate change adaptation is how we respond or prepare for climate change. Adaptation planning enables Indigenous communities to mitigate the impacts of climate change within their communities and traditional lands.
The vision of this website is to provide a platform for Indigenous peoples across Canada to share their climate change experiences and stories. Developed by Indigenous peoples for Indigenous peoples, the Indigenous Climate Hub provides access to climate change resources tools for Indigenous peoples to monitor and adapt to our ever changing climate. The platform also acts as a hub for Indigenous climate change leaders working on similar issues to come together and build from each others knowledge and experiences.
Climate change poses significant risks to Indigenous peoples and their traditional and contemporary economies, communities and the natural environment. As the traditional stewards of this land, Indigenous peoples must work together, to mitigate and reduce these risks.
Canadians will be affected to some extent by the impacts associated with climate change such as rising temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns and changes in other weather events (depending on the region). However, it is expected that Indigenous communities will experience the impacts of climate change in ways that most non-Indigenous Canadians will not, due to a heavy reliance on the environment, their locations, their economic situations. Indigenous peoples in particular, similar to other natural-resource dependent communities around the world, depend on the environment for subsistence, maintenance of culture, and other important aspects of their livelihoods.
Throughout history, Indigenous peoples have maintained a strong connection with the environment; a connection that is integral to the survival of their physical, social, economic, cultural and spiritual ways of life. Due to this historical and cultural connection, climate change effects will disrupt Indigenous people more severely than other citizens. Although there is much diversity among Indigenous communities in terms of language and culture, there is a fundamental recognition between them of the critical importance of a clean and healthy environment. Since their ways of life are so closely tied to the land, Indigenous peoples must protect it.
There are a number of ways to get involved in the growing movement of Indigenous Climate Leaders. Create a community profile, contribute to the blog, participate in the members-only network, share a tool or resource, update on an upcoming event. Interested in submitting a blog post, see our blog writing guide or contact Okwaho for more support.
Indigenous peoples are taking steps to respond to the climate crisis with support from a number of federal, provincial/territorial and non-government programs and initiatives. If you have been working on climate change initiatives in your community, we want to hear from you! Consider writing a community profile or a blog post about your work and sharing it with us to help inspire others.
