Curious flock to Nanisiniq’s booth at Durban climate summit

Jordan Konek and Curtis Kuunaq answer questions at their booth in Durban, South Africa, part of the many displays associated with the United Nations summit on climate change now underway there. (PHOTO BY FRANK TESTER)

FRANK TESTER

DURBAN, South Africa — Jordan Konek and Curtis Kuunaq of Arviat opened their booth Dec. 3, part of the many displays at the United Nations climate change summit now underway in Durban, South Africa.

And it didn’t take long for some of the 20,000 official delegates, representatives of non-governmental organizations and journalists there to find the two young Inuit — the only Inuit who appear to be at the conference so far.

Students Konek and Kuunaq, from the Nanisiniq Arviat history project, arrived Dec. 1 in the South African coastal city.

The materials in their booth’s exhibit, themed around Inuit culture and relations with land, oceans and animals, include archival photos and photos taken in and around Arviat.

As part of the display, visitors are invited to comment on what they think the future holds for Inuit if the Arctic continues to get warmer. After looking at the photos, they can then draw their impressions and ideas on a large screen.

Journalists writing for newspapers in Canada and the United States were among the first visitors to the Nanisinq booth.

Relying on their past interviews with elders in Arviat, Konek and Kuunaq talked to reporters about the problems of polar bears visiting community dumps in increasing numbers as they search for food and the hardships hunters encounter getting out on the land in October and November.

“We are a hunting culture,” Kuunaq reminded the visitors. “Anything that affects our ability to hunt and to travel on the land affects our culture, our identity as Inuit, and our health. We feel good when we are travelling on our land,” he reminded reporters. “That’s why we are here and that’s why climate change is a most important issue for all Inuit.”

Official delegates to the Durban talks are trying to craft a successor to the UN convention on climate change, which led to the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement, signed in 1992.