Inuit climate change action call

By Gilly Mathieson
BBC Scotland Politics Show

Delegations from 192 countries are arriving in Copenhagen for two weeks of talks aimed at establishing a new global treaty on climate change.

The Inuit said climate change was hitting their way of life

Among those attending are the Canadian Inuit, who have called for tough new emissions targets and extra funding to help adapt to global warming.

Over the last 300 years, most of the young men that came to the Canadian Arctic were from Scotland. They worked as fur traders for the Hudson's Bay Company, the oldest trading business in the world.

Canada's National Inuit leader, Mary Simon, represents a community which lives in the country's 53 Arctic communities.

During her childhood, Ms Simon and her family hunted for food, travelled by dog team and lived in igloos. It was part of a traditional lifestyle the Inuit say is now in danger as they struggle to cope with climate change.

We can't go to the grocery store and buy a pound of beef or a whole chicken - it doesn't exist in a lot of our communities Mary Simon Canadian Inuit leader

She said: "In my region this winter it's three degrees - usually it's minus 25 or minus 30. It got very cold in September. The ice froze to a level where people could go hunting and fishing."

Then, said Ms Simon, the area became warm and it rained.

She went on: "Permafrost is melting, which is having an affect on the houses that people live in. Some of our buildings are starting to sink.

"We hunt and fish and gather during all four seasons and this is being impacted on by global climate change as well.

"Contaminants in the food chain have been very high and that has a very bad impact on people because they depend on that food for their protein."

Ms Simon, who has been visiting Scotland as a guest of Edinburgh University's centre of Canadian studies, said: "We can't go to the grocery store and buy a pound of beef or a whole chicken, it doesn't exist in a lot of our communities, so people have to go out and hunt for their food, the very protein that makes you health become unhealthy."

Many young Scots have come to the Canadian Arctic over the years

She will soon be heading to Copenhagen to push for tough new emissions targets and an adaptation fund to help the Inuit deal with climate change.

"Things have to change," said Ms Simon, adding: "There has to be concrete, hard decisions made by world leaders.

"This is about human kind and the effort that is needed by all countries to make hard choices and hard decision. I've called for an adaptation fund, that would include regions within developed nations and I'm calling on a twenty billion dollar fund initially that would increase over five years. We need resources to do all kinds of things including fixing our houses and fixing our buildings.

The Inuit leader said the Scottish government had already set the standard for the Copenhagen climate change talks with its legislation for a 42% cut in emissions by 2020.