8/3/2019 Inuit hunter takes climate-change message to Durban conference

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Global warming

Inuit hunter takes climate-change message toDurban conferencegeoffrey york

DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA From Monday's Globe and Mail

Published Sunday, Dec. 04, 2011 5:54PM EST

Last updated Monday, Dec. 05, 2011 10:34AM EST

It took 30 hours of flying, but Inuit hunter Jordan Konek has arrived in the land of surfers and

palm trees with a message for the worlds politicians: Climate change is real, and it could devastate

Canadas Arctic people.

At his home in Arviat on the western shores of Hudson Bay, the snow is arriving later and melting

sooner. Hunters are falling through the ice or becoming trapped in slush. Polar bears are so

desperate for food that they are raiding the towns garbage dumps.

The Inuit see this and the world should know this, Mr. Konek says. Its happening right before

our eyes. If were going to be ignored, its like putting a shotgun in our mouth and pulling the

trigger.

Mr. Konek, 23, and his cousin, 21-year-old Curtis Konek, are hoping their message will get through

to the negotiators from 190 countries who are struggling to reach agreement on how to combat

global warming. But the Durban climate conference has failed to make much progress in its first

week, and analysts are warning of a potential breakdown in its final week.

Unlike previous climate summits, few prominent leaders will attend the final days of negotiations,

knowing there will be little glory to share. Only 12 heads of state, mostly from Africa and small

Pacific islands, are scheduled to arrive in Durban this week. Most of the politicians here will be

lower-ranking ministers, including Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent, who was due to

arrive late Sunday night.

Mr. Kent will face an uphill battle as he tries to soften the negative image that Canada has quicklydeveloped at Durban. Canada has been singled out for sharp criticism by foreign leaders and

environmentalists, especially after reports that the Harper government is planning to announce

Canadas withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol and is lobbying other governments to ditch Kyoto as

well.

Thousands of people marched in the streets of Durban on the weekend to demand a legally binding

agreement to fight global warming. But this seems an unlikely prospect.

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The negotiations arent going very well, said Radoslav Dimitrov, a professor at the University of

Western Ontario who is a member of the European Union delegation at the Durban talks.

We shouldnt expect a major outcome from Durban. Some countries have practically thrown their

hands up in the air and stopped negotiating. There are many countries that are obstructing the

process now.

While the negotiations founder, scientists are reporting more bad news. Carbon emissions fromfossil fuels and the cement industry have soared to a record high, rising by 5.9 per cent last year.

The rise is the highest ever recorded in a single year, and the biggest increase came from rapidly

industrializing countries in the developing world.

The latest emissions figures should send shivers down the spines of negotiators in Durban, said

Tim Gore, policy adviser for Oxfam. It is clear that the emissions-reduction pledges set by

countries to date are nowhere near adequate to avoid devastating impacts for millions of poor

people.

Another report on Sunday warned that the worlds wildlife is suffering heavy damage from global

warming. The report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization documented howthe changing climate is causing death and disease in a vast range of animal species including

lions in the Serengeti, elephants in West Africa, tigers in India and caribou in northern Canada. Up

to 30 per cent of plant and animal species are at higher risk of extinction because of global

warming, it said.

The world is undergoing an extinction crisis the most rapid loss of biodiversity in the planets

history and this loss is likely to accelerate as the climate changes, the report said. Climate

change is likely to exacerbate all of the traditional threats to wildlife, as well as introducing new

ones.

Jordan Konek sees the same dangers in Nunavut, where he has interviewed Inuit elders for films

and blogs. The Canadian government is ignoring how people are experiencing climate change, he

said. Its obvious that our climate is changing. The snow is coming a lot later now. Well be losing

our hunting culture.

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