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SIKU: Knowing Our Ice pp 145–160Cite as

Sila-Inuk: Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in Greenland

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Abstract

Greenland is experiencing some of the most dramatic impacts of climate change in the Arctic. Much work has been done to study these changes through physical science, but little has been done to document the perspectives of local Kalaallit. In 2005, the Inuit Circumpolar Council-Greenland launched the Sila-Inuk project to do just this, interviewing local experts in 23 communities in south, west, and north Greenland. The analysis of this work is still underway and will be presented at the next ICC General Assembly in 2010. This chapter provides a sample of the work and an overview of the Sila-Inuk initiative.

When people talk about catastrophic climate change, there’s a fair chance that Greenland is on their mind.

(Witze 2008:798)

Contributing Author: Shari Gearheard

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Acknowledgments

The Sila-Inuk Project is grateful to KNAPK, the Hunters and Fishermen’s Organization in Greenland, for providing contacts to their knowledgeable members and to all the communities who participated in the project and shared their knowledge. I am grateful to ICC-Greenland for its support and belief in the project. Many thanks to NunaFONDEN for funding support and to Anna Heilmann and Hanne Sørensen for transcribing some of the interviews. Qujanaq to Shari Gearheard for being by my side and for her assistance in drafting this chapter, and to Igor Krupnik for helpful review and important comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Inuit Circumpolar Council, Dronning Ingridsvej 1, P.O. Box 204, Nuuk, 3900, Greenland

    Lene Kielsen Holm

Authors
  1. Lene Kielsen Holm
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Correspondence to Lene Kielsen Holm .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Museum of Natural History, Dept. Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, 10th and Constitution Ave. NW.,, Washington, 20013-7012, District of Columbia, USA

    Igor Krupnik

  2. Dept. Sociology & Anthropology, Carleton University, Colonel By Dr. 1125, Ottawa, K1S 5B6, Ontario, Canada

    Claudio Aporta

  3. National Snow & Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Clyde River, Nunavut, Canada

    Shari Gearheard

  4. Dept. Geography &, Environmental Studies, Carleton University, Colonel By Drive 1125, Ottawa, K1S 5B6, Ontario, Canada

    Gita J. Laidler

  5. Inuit Circumpolar Council, Greenland, Dr. Ingridsvej 1, Nuuk, 3900, Greenland

    Lene Kielsen Holm

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Holm, L.K. (2010). Sila-Inuk: Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in Greenland. In: Krupnik, I., Aporta, C., Gearheard, S., Laidler, G., Kielsen Holm, L. (eds) SIKU: Knowing Our Ice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8587-0_6

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