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<div><strong>The Climate Change Petition by the Inuit Circumpolar Conference to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights</strong></div>
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<p><em>Presentation by Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Chair, Inuit Circumpolar Conference<br>Eleventh Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change<br>Montreal, December 7, 2005</em></p>
<p>Good afternoon. My name is Sheila Watt-Cloutier. I am the elected Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference which represents the interests internationally of the 155,000 Inuit resident in Canada, the United States, Greenland, and Chukotka in the Federation of Russia.
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<p>Today, first I am going to speak about the place of the Arctic in the global debate to address climate change. As well I will talk about the human rights of Inuit in light of the changes to the Arctic environment outlined by Bob Corell. After James Anaya has spoken, and before we go to questions, I will speak again.
<br> <br>Last week Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Canada's national Inuit organization, held a side event at which elders and hunters spoke eloquently of what climate change is doing to the Arctic and to our culture and way of life. Arctic Day yesterday was a remarkable day. For more than 20 years Inuit hunters and elders have reported changes to the natural environment. Science and traditional knowledge are saying the same thing.
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<p>The range of these changes is well-known: melting permafrost, thinning and ablation of sea ice, receding glaciers, "invasion" of species of animals not previously seen in the Arctic, increased coastal erosion, longer and warmer summers and shorter winters. As Bob has said, the magnitude of these changes varies from place to place, but the trend is consistent across the Arctic.
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<p>What is happening affects virtually every facet of Inuit life—we are a people of the land, ice, snow, and animals. Our hunting culture thrives on the cold. We need it to be cold to maintain our culture and way of life. Climate change has become the ultimate threat to Inuit culture.
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<p>Already we are having considerable difficulty adapting to environmental changes as a result of climate change. Hunters have fallen through the thinning sea ice, traveling in places traditionally safe.</p>
<p>Bob spoke about the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA). The ACIA considered the impacts of climate change on the health and culture of people, including Inuit. It is helping to put a human face on an issue that is usually characterized as an environmental and economic matter.
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<p>I will read two conclusions of the ACIA. As I do so please remember that Inuit are an ancient people with a hunting culture based on the sea and sea ice.</p>
<p>Marine species dependent on sea ice, including polar bears, ice-living seals, walrus, and some marine birds, are very likely to decline, with some species facing extinction. <br>And for Inuit, warming is likely to disrupt or even destroy their hunting and food sharing culture as reduced sea ice causes the animals on which they depend to decline, become less accessible, and possibly become extinct.
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<p>How would you respond if an international assessment prepared by more than 300 scientists from 15 countries concluded that your age-old culture and economy was doomed, and that you were to become a footnote to globalization?
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<p>Inuit are adaptable and resourceful. We have to be to survive in the Arctic. But the ACIA foresees a time—within the lifetime of my eight year old grandson—when environmental change will be so great that Inuit will no longer be able to maintain their hunting culture. Already Inuit are struggling to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
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<p>Please think of these two ACIA findings in the context of the objective of the climate change convention, which is:</p>
<p>Stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Such a level should be achieved within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.
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<p>The Arctic ecosystem does not have time to adapt to the projected future. I am deeply concerned that Inuit—an essential component of the Arctic ecosystem—will have insufficient time to adapt. </p>
<p>The Arctic has gained broad recognition as the globe's "barometer" of climate change. I live in Iqaluit on Baffin Island. My back yard is the world's "sentinel" ecosystem for climate change, the guard so to speak. </p>
<p>An Inuk out on the land hunting for a seal with which to feed his family observes even minute changes to the environment. In a very real sense he is the sentinel—the first line of defense against climate change. That Inuk hunter illustrates something else—climate change is a human and family issue.
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<p>The ACIA projects the disappearance of some species of ice-living seals. Seals are our food. The climate change convention aims to "ensure that food production is not threatened." Well, it is. The objective of the climate change convention is being breached in the Arctic.
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<p>There are three basic messages from the Arctic. </p>
<p>1. "dangerous" climate change is already here;<br>2. climate change in the Arctic is quickly going to get worse; and<br>3. climate change in the Arctic is important globally.</p>
<p>The convention mentions by name certain regions within the developing world that are vulnerable to climate change. It does not mention the Arctic. In view of what we now know, this is a glaring omission.</p>
<p>The Arctic is the homeland of many Indigenous peoples. I see in the audience today representatives of Sami, Athabascans, Gwich'in, Russian Indigenous peoples and many others. According to the United Nations, Inuit live in the developed world, but this is not the case. We have much in common with developing states. We have difficult social and health conditions, our environment is being assaulted by climate change and contaminants from afar, and we have enormous infrastructure challenges.
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<p>The Arctic does not "fit" within the categories—developing and developed worlds and economies in transition—used in the climate change convention. Instead, the Arctic bridges them. </p>
<p>This bridging role will increase as the circumpolar Arctic becomes an important geopolitical region. Oil, gas, and minerals in the Arctic are attracting more and more attention from decision-makers in the South. I am sure this trend has only just begun.
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<p>The Arctic should be integrated into global debate on climate change by amending the convention or some other means. Arctic states have been working here in Montreal on a political statement that moves us in this direction.
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<p>The Arctic can help us all look beyond narrowly defined national interests to create a global perspective. This is what's needed if we are to combat climate change. The "Voice from the North" can help determine the global level of greenhouse gas reductions required to achieve the goal of the convention.
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<p>We understand from climate change science that our window of opportunity is only 10-15 years. Co-ordinated action by all states from the developed and developing worlds is required to forestall the future projected in the ACIA. We are all in this together.
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<p>What can Inuit do to help governments take the required mitigation and adaptation decisions? How can we in the Arctic help states to develop the global perspective we all need?</p>
<p>I have attended three COPs. People rush from meeting to meeting arguing about all sorts of narrow technical points. The bigger picture, the cultural picture, the human picture is being lost. Climate change is not about bureaucrats scurrying around. It is about families, parents, children, and the lives we lead in our communities in the broader environment. We have to regain this perspective if climate change is to be stopped.
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<p>Inuit understand these connections because we remain a people of the land, ice, and snow. This is why, for us, climate change is an issue of our right to exist as an Indigenous people. How can we stand up for ourselves and help others do the same?
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<p>Following more than two years of preparation we have submitted today a petition—this 167-page petition—to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights based in Washington DC. I want to thank Don Goldberg of the Centre for International Environmental Law, Martin Wagner of EarthJustice, James Anaya of the University of Arizona, Sasha Earnheart-Gold and Rich Powell two American students from Dartmouth and Harvard who gathered the testimonies from our hunter/elders and women for the petition as well as my team at ICC Paul Crowley who led the legal team from Iqaluit and Terry Fenge my advisor of ten years, for their remarkable work in developing the petition. As well, I want to acknowledge and thank the, literally, hundreds of Inuit who have expressed support for what we are doing.
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<p>The full text of the petition is posted on ICC's web site at <a href="http://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/">www.inuitcircumpolar.com</a> As well as myself, the petition is filed on behalf of 62 named Inuit from northern Canada and northern Alaska on behalf of all Inuit in Canada and Alaska. We have citizens of the United States as well as Canada petitioning the commission.
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<p>Our petition asks the commission to come to the Arctic to find out what climate change is doing to the environment and to Inuit. We seek a declaration from the commission that the United States—the world's source of more than 25 percent of greenhouse gases —is violating our human rights as outlined in the 1948 American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man. As we have seen in the last few days the United States continues to refuse to work with the community of nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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<p>James Anaya will go into detail about the meaning and interpretation of the declaration and how it protects our rights as a people, and how our petition fits within evolving international human rights law.</p>
<p>Let me say clearly that this is not about money. We are not seeking damages. What we want is the United States to stop violating our rights. To do that the United States needs to lead the international effort for absolute reductions in emission of greenhouse gases. Without absolute reductions Inuit hunting and food sharing culture will not survive.
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<p>What are our rights that are being violated? The petition specifies:</p>
<p>1. the right to life and physical security;<br>2. the right to personal property;<br>3. the right to health;<br>4. the right to practice our culture;<br>5. the right to use land traditionally used and occupied; and<br>
6. the right to the means of subsistence. </p>
<p>A declaration from the commission may not enforceable, but it has great moral value. We intend the petition to educate and encourage the United States to join the community of nations in a global effort to combat climate change.
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<p>We need, and the world needs, deep reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases. Without these reductions the Arctic is destined to change enormously and the ability of Inuit to adapt to environmental change will be overwhelmed.
<br>What is the relief we seek from the commission? What are we asking for in addition to the declaration that the United States is violating our human rights?. We want the commission to recommend that the United States:</p>
<p>1. Adopt mandatory measures to limit its emissions of greenhouse gases in co-operation with the community of nations;<br>2. Take into account the impact of US greenhouse gas emissions on the Arctic and Inuit before approving all major government actions;
<br>3. In consultation with Inuit, develop a plan to protect Inuit culture and the Arctic environment and to mitigate any harm caused by US greenhouse gas emissions; and<br>4. In co-ordination with Inuit, develop a plan to help Inuit adapt to unavoidable climate change.
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<p>I said earlier that we have to develop a global perspective on climate change. While the petition singles out the United States, we do not do this in a spirit of confrontation. I think you will agree that the relief we seek is reasonable.
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<p>I suggested that the Arctic is a bridge between regions of the world. Inuit have the same philosophy. We want to bring people together . Protecting human rights is ground occupied by both reasonable governments and civil society, including Inuit and other Indigenous peoples.
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<p>This petition is our means of inviting the United States to talk with us and to put this global issue into a broader human and human rights context. Our intent is to encourage and to inform . As I said at the beginning of my remarks, I will speak about the spirit rather than the politics of what we are doing after James Anaya has spoken.
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<p>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</p></div>