2007 Annual Meeting and Arctic Forum | Abstracts

Effects of Changes in Water Resources on Northern Societies

Daniel M. White¹, Larry D. Hinzman², Liliam Alessa³, Andrew Kliskey⁴, Peter P. Schweitzer^5
1Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 755900, Fairbanks, AK, 99775-5900, USA, Phone 907-474-6222, Fax 907-474-6866, ffdmw@uaf.edu
²International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 757340, Fairbanks, AK, 99775-7340, USA, Phone 907-474-7331, Fax 907-474-1578, ffldh@uaf.edu
³Resilience and Adaptive Management Group , University of Alaska Anchorage , 3211 Providence Drive , Anchorage , AK, 99508, USA, Phone 907-786-1507, Fax 907-786-7749, afla@uaa.alaska.edu
⁴Department of Biological Science, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, AK, 99508, USA, Phone 907-786-1136, Fax 907-786-4607, afadk@uaa.alaska.edu
⁵Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 757720, Fairbanks, AK, 99775-7720, USA, Phone 907-474-5015, Fax 907-474-7453, ffpps@uaf.edu

Freshwater is critical to the sustainability of people and their activities in the Arctic. The availability and status of water resources may promote good health or propagate disease, support the distribution and quality of plants and animals used for subsistence, and promote or impede transportation and resource development. Water is integral to the culture of arctic people. In the past 30 years, the climate in the Arctic has warmed appreciably and there is evidence for a significant polar amplification of global warming in the future. Recent studies suggest that climate change is having, and will continue to have a significant impact on arctic hydrology and Northern societies. For example, of concern to people in the Arctic are lakes disappearing with the loss of permafrost, low river stage limiting access to subsistence resources, and the availability of water for construction of ice roads. This presentation will discuss how humans depend on freshwater at local scales in the Arctic, and how climate change is affecting this dependency.