In the subarctic and arctic reaches of the Northwest Territories (NWT), the climate is warming faster than most other places on the planet. Decades before scientists and governments were grasping the threats of rising temperatures amid public debate over climate policies, Indigenous Peoples in the region were sounding the alarm.
“As far back as the 90s, our Elders were seeing the changes and learning about dire consequences to come,” said Nicole Redvers, a member of the Denı́nu Kų́ę́ First Nation in NWT, and the director of Indigenous Planetary Health at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.
“The Elders were talking about changes in the patterns of temperature, snowfall and water flow, making weather unpredictable. And then, plants, animals and insects they’d never seen before were suddenly appearing. Things like ticks. We never had some kinds of ticks up there before.”
Warming temperatures are also changing the landscape itself. Melting permafrost has led to the collapse of entire lakes, and wildfire seasons are not only longer, but more intense. Among the effects of the destructive changes are the loss of traditional food sources and contamination of air and waterways.
Redvers, who started her research in subarctic communities, says it’s clear the health of the land can’t be separated from the health of the people it sustains. Her work now focuses on amplifying the voices and elevating the knowledges of Indigenous Peoples on the front lines of climate change impacts.
“The sometimes unspoken consequence of current climate policies is the marginalization of the very people who hold the most important knowledges to help us out of this mess in the first place,” she said.
Indigenous Peoples displaced by climate policy
Nicole Redvers, director of Indigenous Planetary Health at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry (Schulich Communications)
Redvers’ team recently completed a project mapping climate-related impacts on Indigenous communities across the globe, from the Ogiek People of Kenya’s Mau Forest to communities in Uganda, Thailand, India and northern Europe. Their work revealed a dark side of climate policy ─ Indigenous Peoples evicted from their ancestral lands in the name of conservation or carbon offsetting.
In Kenya, the Ogiek won a court ruling affirming their land rights, only to be forcibly removed shortly after. Advocates say Indigenous lands in several countries are being conceded to other countries who purchase rights to the land for carbon credits.
“The same agencies who are evicting the people who’ve stewarded the land for generations also say Indigenous knowledges are a priority. But knowledges don’t come without the people, and the people don’t come without Indigenous land rights and the sovereignty of the communities that hold the knowledges.”
Redvers says Indigenous communities need to be cautious about revealing their knowledges.
“There’s a long history of extraction ─ people taking Indigenous knowledges without consent and using it to their own benefit without any benefit to the communities. There’s no intellectual property protection for Indigenous knowledges. We have protocols for how its shared, and responsibilities and cultural relationships tied to those knowledges.”
Redvers attributes the notion that land conservation means no people should live on the land to a Euro-centric view that conflicts with the reality of Indigenous land stewardship.
“Indigenous-managed lands are proven to store more carbon and sustain greater biodiversity than lands managed by governments or corporations,” she said.
Climate messages that resonate across all communities
Ultimately, Redvers believes it won’t be government or communities driving the next wave of policy change on the environment, but the private sector.
“Insurance companies have the most to lose. They’re already calculating the costs of floods, fires and disasters. When they can’t insure most of the infrastructure across North America, we won’t have any choice about seriously addressing planetary health.”
Redvers says scientists and policy makers need to reach more people through personal stories grounded in communities, in language that speaks to their priorities, rather than depending on scientific reports. While working in North Dakota during the first Donald Trump presidency, she found reframing the conversation revealed just how receptive people can be.
“It’s a conservative state and an oil state, so saying ‘climate change’ would shut people down. But talking to farmers about land health, about the wellbeing of their farms ─ that resonated. Farmers are land-based people too.”
The political climate in Canada has led to some progress when governments observe treaties and enact Indigenous land guardianship programs, Redvers said.
“Canada and Australia have funded Indigenous communities to steward their territories. I would love to see this model implemented in other areas. It would support planetary health and address some of the land evictions.”
Solutions grounded in land rights
Redvers is also encouraged by the new direction in Canada’s medical community. Most medical schools across Canada, including Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, signed the Academic Health Institutions’ Declaration on Planetary Health in 2023.
“It’s an acknowledgement of the code red we’re in, but also a commitment to integrating planetary health concepts and environmental issues into education and research in medical schools across Canada. This is huge momentum for Canadian leadership on the issue, even further ahead than other G7 countries,” she said.
A shared understanding that human health depends on the health of the planet will propel action, not just across more institutions, but at the community level, Redvers said. Key to that action is ensuring Indigenous communities aren’t impeded in caring for their own lands.
“If we’re serious about tackling threats to planetary health, we need to stop asking, ‘What Indigenous knowledge can we use?’ and start figuring out how we ensure Indigenous Peoples can stay on their lands, practice stewardship and pass on their knowledges to future generations.”
Read more from Our Warming Planet, a series featuring Western University researchers and scholars addressing the great challenge of our time.
