• Works in the Inuit Circumpolar Region
• Began as Arctil Council in 1996
• Membership consists of 8 nation states and 6 indigenous people organizations

Source: ICC (presentation given during course)

The Sila-Inuk project in South Greenland took place from 14th August through 22nd September 2006.

During the project, 13 settlements were visited and 33 persons interviewed. The interviewees were hunters, fishermen, sheep farmers and other knowledgeable persons, both men and women, young and old. The aim was to gather observations on climate change.

The people interviewed gave the following observations:

• Unpredictable weather
• "Seasons have switched"
• Coldness of winter has moved to spring
• Directions of different winds change more often within a shorter time frame
• Calm weather not as common as earlier
• Force of winds not as strong as it used to be
• In summer, sun in daylight is very strong, while during the night frost has been experienced
• Heavy rain
• Frozen sea in the morning around 20th of July
• When sun has set, the air becomes chilly, even if it was very warm during daytime
• Habits of birds and seals have changed
• Streams are changing
• The water is warmer. Cod, catfish and herring have been sighted. In the 70s and 80s, these species were hunted; then they disappeared until now.
• Glaciers are receding
• Levels of tide are changing; more extreme (both high and low) than before
• Ice cover of beaches in the winter has disappeared
• Winter ice in fjords not occurring any longer
• Ice approaching from the east coast is melting faster than before. This results in formation of ice between existing ice, which makes it dangerous to hunt there by boat.
• Fish are coming back; the arctic char is moving to spawning grounds much earlier than before
• Ringed seals have moved out of South Greenland, because they need sea ice
• Harp seals seen in greater numbers than before
• Period of time that seals shed their hair is getting longer
• Algae is forming in the hair of the seals; this has never been seen before
• Snow cover less than normal
• Arctic blackberry, which grows only in snow-covered spots, grows less than normal; but no changes in blueberry growth
• Strong stream that runs toward land brought the cod away from the coast. Now the stream is going outwards and the cod are coming back to the coast.
• Humidity of air higher (year round)
• Routes of minke whales have changed

Currently, the ICC is planning to extend the project to similarly visit most parts of Greenland to see how similar and/or different the observations from different areas are.

As for the project's name, "sila" means

• Weather
• Human intellect
• Universe

More information is available at www.inuit.org, under the category Sila-Inuk.

Source: ICC (presentation given during course)