Caribou people - Arctic


  • Photographer
    Nicolas Villaume
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    freelance photographer
  • Date of Photograph
    April 2009

CARIBOU PEOPLE. Here this the photographic work is done in Alaska Arctic village, where melting permafrost, erratic temperatures, forest fires have combined for a perfect storm of global warming has helped cull the porcupine herd of caribou, the main food of the local population Gwitch'in population.

Story

Indigenous Peoples have contributed the least to climate change, but suffer the most from it. Despite the recent adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, they have little say in the UN climate negotiations – the epitome of climate injustice.

This photo serie is part of a long term project called Conversations with the Earth: Indigenous Voices on Climate change. It shows stories from around the world about how indigenous are affected and are reacting to the climate issues we are all facing today. In the case of Arctic Village, what’s at stake is the sustenance of the millennia-old culture of the Gwich’in “caribou people” and hunters like Charley Swaney. But in a way we are all people of the caribou. If the ancient hunt is to endure, members of industrial countries would have meaningfully reduce greenhouse gases. In doing so, they might be saving more than indispensable traditional knowledge. They might be saving themselves.

You can create multiple entries, and pay for them at the same time.
Just go to your History, and select multiple entries that you would like to pay for.