Joana Marques
Assessing Community Vulnerability to Climate Change in Dawson City, Yukon Territory © 2009
Northern Canada is expected to experience warmer temperatures and variations in precipitation which will alter the frequency and magnitude of natural hazards and ultimately impact physical, biological and human systems. While most climate change research has focused on the physical impacts of change, much less research has been done by social scientists trying to assess how those impacts will affect communities dispersed throughout the north. A conceptual model of vulnerability is utilized for Dawson City in the Yukon Territory, and a number of sources are drawn upon in an attempt to identify how Dawson will be vulnerable to climate change in the future. Dawson was chosen because of its unique history and experience with environmental hazards as it continues to be exposed to an annual cycle of climatic events that will become more frequent and severe in the future. Climatic events such as forest fires, flooding and permafrost degradation characterize Dawson's vulnerability and the paper will examine the role of other more pressing sources of stress that will be further exacerbated by climate change.