People and Plants in Nunatsiavut (Labrador, Canada): Examining Plants as a Foundational Aspect of Culture in the Subarctic

Norton, Christian Howard; Cuerrier, Alain; Hermanutz, Luise

doi:10.1007/s12231-021-09530-7

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Salmonberries are notably variable in production as they are more sensitive to extremes like strong winds (between 40 and 60 km/h) and heavy rains, late frost, or hot summer temperatures (above 25°C), particularly during flowering (Anderson et al, 2018; Karst, 2005; Karst & Turner, 2011; Norton et al, 2021; Parlee et al, 2006). One picker said: “cloudberries make us run around” (Karst & Turner, 2011).…”

Section: Climate Change Impacts On Berriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Practices of care and respect support berry sustainability and resilience (Boulanger‐Lapointe et al, 2019). Some high bush cranberry patches are owned and inherited within families, with individuals leading the monitoring, harvest, and management to ensure longevity (Norton et al, 2021; Turner et al, 2013; Turner & Peacock, 2005). Berry pickers in Nunatsiavut, on the north coast of Labrador, and elsewhere never pick berries every day, all the berries in the patch, or more than they can use (Murray et al, 2005; Norton et al, 2021).…”

Section: Responding To Environmental Change With Berry Stewardshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate and land‐use change impacts on cultural use berries: Considerations for mitigative stewardship

Mucioki

2024

Plants People Planet

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Societal Impact StatementCultural use berries are prized foods and medicines across the United States and Canada, with almost 200 different species used by Indigenous Peoples. Berries are increasingly being impacted by environmental and land‐use change. Berry habitats, how and when berry plants reproduce, and the volume of berries available for harvest each year are shifting widely. These changes are impacting access to, availability of, and consumption of berries. Biocultural stewardship practices, like low‐intensity fire, transplanting, and thinning, can be used in response to these stressors to support berry plant health and productivity as well as a sustained relationship with this important food.SummaryAlmost 200 different species of berries are used for food and medicine by Indigenous Peoples, with unparalleled nutritional and cultural significance among plant foods. Environmental and land‐use change is increasingly compromising access to, availability of, and consumption of berries. In this review, I consider (a) how climate and land‐use change are impacting cultural use berries across species and places, as documented by Indigenous Peoples and in the scientific literature, and (b) how stewardship practices are being applied to promote resilience and sustainability in berrying landscapes experiencing stress. Climate impacts on Arctic and subarctic berry species include earlier ripening, changes in taste, or increased variability in abundance. These same regions are experiencing a proliferation of shrubs, while forests throughout the lower 48 and Canada are suffering from suffocating fuel loads and stand densities that are not conducive to berry habitat for many species. In the Pacific West, berries are influenced by prolonged droughts and increasing spring and summer temperatures. Climate change impacts are amplified by shifts in land use for forestry and agriculture. Biocultural stewardship practices, like low‐intensity fire, thinning, transplanting, and cultural care, can be used to mitigate these impacts and promote berry microclimate habitats. There is opportunity for intertribal networking and knowledge sharing around berry stewardship practices that will support local and regional climate change responses.

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Section: Climate Change Impacts On Berriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Responding To Environmental Change With Berry Stewardshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate and land‐use change impacts on cultural use berries: Considerations for mitigative stewardship

Mucioki

2024

Plants People Planet

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“…Human migration as a response to change is also addressed (Berman 2021(Berman , 2009. Additionally, research on terrestrial subsistence practices, such as reindeer herding (Terekhina et al 2021;Atkinson 2020) or the use of plants by Indigenous peoples (Norton et al 2021;Whitecloud and Grenoble 2014;Black et al 2008), is located in this cluster. Therein, Indigenous values towards traditional foods and subsistence practices are highlighted (Green et al 2019).…”

Section: Food Culture and Economy Cluster (N = 74)mentioning

confidence: 99%

A leverage points perspective on Arctic Indigenous food systems research: a systematic review

et al. 2023

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Arctic food systems are increasingly challenged by rapid climate change, loss of food security and subsequent weakening of food sovereignty, and destabilization of Indigenous practices. Despite growing scientific knowledge on Arctic food systems, Indigenous communities continue to struggle with a plethora of sustainability challenges. To develop a systemic understanding of these challenges, we performed a systematic review of 526 articles published between 1998 and 2021 on Arctic Indigenous food systems. We used the leverage points framework to structure our analysis to understand to what extent the existing Western scientific body of literature provides the necessary knowledge to understand the food system characteristics that give rise to the current sustainability challenges. We combined deductive qualitative and inductive quantitative approaches to identify gaps in the systemic understanding of Arctic Indigenous food systems. We characterized existing research across the four levels of systemic depth—parameters, feedbacks, design, intent—and identified promising directions for future research. Our analyses show that research on food systems is clustered within six main domains, we term environmental contaminants, diet and health, food security, food culture and economy, changing socio-ecological systems and marine and coast. Based on our analysis, we identify three directions for future research that we believe to be of particular importance to enable sustainability transformations of Arctic Indigenous food systems: (i) the decolonization of research practices, (ii) acknowledging the significance of systemic interdependencies across shallow and deep leverage points, and (iii) transdisciplinary action-oriented research collaborations directing transformative system interventions.

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“…Locally, preservation of peatland permafrost complexes is relevant to Labrador Inuit and Innu because these areas are frequented for traditional activities such as bakeapple (cloudberry; Inuttitut: appik; Innu-aimun: shikuteu; Rubus chamaemorus) berry-picking (Anderson et al, 2018;Karst and Turner, 2011;Norton et al, 2021), goose hunting, and fox trapping . Improvements to our understanding of the region's peatland permafrost distribution will provide an important baseline for local and regional climate change adaptation strategy development, while better representation of the distribution of thaw-sensitive terrain will inform future development of linear and built infrastructure in coastal Labrador (Way et al, 2021b;Bell et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Significant underestimation of peatland permafrost along the Labrador Sea coastline in northern Canada

Wang¹,

Way²,

Beer³

et al. 2023

The Cryosphere

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Abstract. Northern peatlands cover approximately four million km2, and about half of these peatlands are estimated to contain permafrost and periglacial landforms, like palsas and peat plateaus. In northeastern Canada, peatland permafrost is predicted to be concentrated in the western interior of Labrador but is assumed to be largely absent along the Labrador Sea coastline. However, the paucity of observations of peatland permafrost in the interior, coupled with traditional and ongoing use of perennially frozen peatlands along the coast by Labrador Inuit and Innu, suggests a need for re-evaluation of the reliability of existing peatland permafrost distribution estimates for the region. In this study, we develop a multi-stage consensus-based point inventory of peatland permafrost complexes in coastal Labrador and adjacent parts of Quebec using high-resolution satellite imagery, and we validate it with extensive field visits and low-altitude aerial photography and videography. A subset of 2092 wetland complexes that potentially contained peatland permafrost were inventoried, of which 1119 were classified as likely containing peatland permafrost. Likely peatland permafrost complexes were mostly found in lowlands within 22 km of the coastline, where mean annual air temperatures often exceed +1 ∘C. A clear gradient in peatland permafrost distribution exists from the outer coasts, where peatland permafrost is more abundant, to inland peatlands, where permafrost is generally absent. This coastal gradient may be attributed to a combination of climatic and geomorphological influences which lead to lower insolation, thinner snowpacks, and poorly drained, frost-susceptible materials along the coast. The results of this study suggest that existing estimates of permafrost distribution for southeastern Labrador require adjustments to better reflect the abundance of peatland permafrost complexes to the south of the regional sporadic discontinuous permafrost limit. This study constitutes the first dedicated peatland permafrost inventory for Labrador and provides an important baseline for future mapping, modelling, and climate change adaptation strategy development in the region.

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People and Plants in Nunatsiavut (Labrador, Canada): Examining Plants as a Foundational Aspect of Culture in the Subarctic

Cited by 6 publications

References 20 publications

Climate and land‐use change impacts on cultural use berries: Considerations for mitigative stewardship

Climate and land‐use change impacts on cultural use berries: Considerations for mitigative stewardship

A leverage points perspective on Arctic Indigenous food systems research: a systematic review

Significant underestimation of peatland permafrost along the Labrador Sea coastline in northern Canada

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