Assessing Climate Change Risk and Resilience in the Yukon

1 MESSAGE FROM THE PROJECT TEAM We extend a warm thank-you to everyone who participated in this project. Your contributions helped to highlight the fact that while climate change continues to challenge us in unprecedented ways, Yukoners are resilient. We have a rich history of respond- ing to changes on the land, and a wealth of knowledge to guide our understanding of risks and resilience. We heard from people who have seen the changes on the land firsthand, and those who are working with communities to anticipate, prepare for and respond to changes. Participants in this project include Indigenous Knowledge holders and Elders, youth, and subject-matter experts working for federal, territorial, Indigenous and municipal governments, as well as academic and private-sector organizations. Your guidance helped frame an understanding of how climate changes affect the things we value. By centring this risk assessment on a common set of core values, we are able to send the message that climate change impacts are interrelated and affect all aspects of Yukoners' lives. By adapting to climate change, we can protect and uphold the things that Yukoners value, which will make us more resilient in the long run. We appreciate the opportunities to learn from one another by bringing together different perspectives. One of the most important lessons from this project was that bringing together diverse ways of knowing helps build resilience. Often, scientific ways of knowing focus on logic, research, data and numerical information. Indigenous world views offer teachings and stories about relying on relationships and values, learning how to live with uncertainty, and preparing for the unknown in order to increase resilience. Bringing in both these approaches can lead to creative and effective solutions for working together, sharing limited resources, and maintaining culture and ways of life. Everyone can help build resilience to climate change impacts: individuals, municipalities, communities, First Nation and Inuvialuit governments, territorial and federal governments, academics, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. We hope this report helps us continue to work together so we can take the path to a highly resilient Yukon. Sincerely, The project team: Climate Change Secretariat YukonU Climate Change and Indigenous Knowledge Research Resilient North Consulting Climate Risk Institute PAGE 1

View entire presentation