Nunavut · Canada, An Arctic Community for Millennia

Northern Canada is home to an indigenous population of some 26,000 Inuit. For thousands of years, they have co-existed with walruses, polar bears and seals in the two million square kilometre Arctic area known as Nunavut. For much of the year, animals and Inuit alike depend for survival on the ice that covers coastal waters. The large mammals live, hunt and reproduce on the ice. The Inuit travel and hunt on it. Within the next century, the average annual temperature in the Nunavut area is expected to rise by up to 5ºC, which will mean there will be no Arctic sea ice for most of the year. This would threaten the walrus, polar bear and seal with extinction. With the animals gone, the Inuit tradition and way of life that has survived for thousands of years will vanish. In many parts of the Arctic, the polar bear population is already in decline.