.png)
Climate change is causing devastating impacts on the environment, and the Old Crow Flats in Yukon is one of the many areas feeling its effects.
The Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, in collaboration with Brock Associate Professor Kevin Turner, is working on a long-term research project to document the effects of climate change in the area.
The project, titled "The Sky is the Limit for Community Monitoring of Climate Change Impacts in Old Crow, Yukon," is being funded by a Brock University Indigenous Research Grant.
The Old Crow Flats is an area of wetlands that hosts abundant wildlife, including the porcupine caribou herd and hundreds of thousands of waterfowl.
The area's landscape is kept stable by permafrost, but the warmer temperatures caused by climate change are causing permafrost to thaw. This is causing the land to become unstable in low-lying areas or in places where there are steep slopes or water bodies near to each other.
Turner has been studying Old Crow's hydrology, water chemistry, and land changes for almost two decades. In 2016, he and his lab partnered with the Vuntut Gwitchin Government to study the growth of a large thaw slump along the Old Crow River in Crow Flats. Caleb Charlie joined the research team in 2019 as a field assistant to help document these changes. Charlie has become an avid photographer, videographer, and drone pilot.
 |
| An aerial view of a thaw slump that has grown over time in Old Crow Flats, Yukon. The map of the slump was derived from over 200 overlapping photographs taken by Caleb Charlie. |
With their 2022 Indigenous Research Grant, Charlie has continued to work with Turner on processing the drone images that they acquired during the past two summers at the thaw slump and a newly drained lake basin.
Turner designed a workshop for Charlie and other participants at Brock to demonstrate the photogrammetry process, which involves making precise measurements of three-dimensional objects and terrain features from overlapping two-dimensional photographs.
Innovative insurance solutions can help communities like Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation mitigate the risks of climate change. For example, parametric insurance solutions can provide immediate financial relief in the event of extreme weather events like floods, landslides, and droughts caused by climate change. These solutions pay out automatically when certain trigger events occur, such as a certain amount of rainfall or a specific temperature threshold being reached.
This ensures that communities have immediate access to funds to help them respond to the impacts of climate change.
Overall, the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation's research project is an important step in understanding and mitigating the impacts of climate change in the Old Crow Flats. Innovative insurance solutions can also play a vital role in helping communities like Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation respond to the impacts of climate change and build resilience for the future.