Seminar: Political ecology of climate change adaptation in the Arctic: Insights from Nunatsiavut, Canada
This seminar examines the political ecology of climate change adaptation in the Arctic, focusing on five Inuit communities in Nunatsiavut, a self-governing Inuit region in northern Canada. It analyses the intersection of social, economic, and environmental factors influencing adaptation. The talk demonstrates how colonialism, forced relocation, and capitalism are driving the historical construction of climate risk along with contemporary adaptation challenges, and showcases how inequities affect the ways community members experience and respond to climate change.
Inuit communities face significant adaptation barriers, such as high costs associated with store-bought food and machinery, economic constraints, and technological dependence required for food gathering. Using a political ecology lens, it contextualised these barriers within the broader socioeconomic factors. The analysis centres on the critical question of ‘adaptation for whom?’ and examines the barriers and limits to adaptation, emphasising the uneven distribution of adaptive capacity within Nunatsiavut.
Part of the Centre for Environment, Heritage and Policy seminar series. The seminar is jointly organised by the Centre for Environment, Heritage and Policy, University of Stirling, and the University of the Arctic (UArctic)'s Thematic Network on Climate Justice in the Arctic.
24 February 2026
13:00 – 14:00 (UK Time)
Online via Teams
Chair: Hyeyoon Park, University of Stirling
Speaker: Ishfaq Hussain Malik
Ishfaq Hussain Malik is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Geography, University of Leeds, UK, whose work sits at the intersection of climate change adaptation, Indigenous knowledge systems, and decolonisation in the Arctic and Himalayan regions.
His research combines critical human geography, political ecology, and participatory field methodologies to examine how local and Indigenous communities interpret, experience, and respond to rapid climatic and socio-political transformations. His broader research explores the decolonisation of environmental knowledge and climate governance, with a focus on how climate change, adaptation, and development intersect with ecological change.
For more information: Event website