Alaska’s permafrost is melting, revealing high levels of mercury that could threaten Alaska’s native population.
That’s according to a new study released earlier this month by the University of Southern California, which analyzed sediment from melted permafrost along Alaska’s Yukon River.
Researchers already knew that the Arctic permafrost was releasing mercury, but scientists weren’t sure how much. The new study – published in the journal Environmental Research Letters – found the situation is not good: As the river runs west, melted permafrost deposits a lot of mercury in the riverbank, confirming some of scientists’ worst estimates and underscoring the potential threat. for the environment and indigenous peoples.
Mercury is a naturally occurring substance, but it can also be man-made. When ingested, the silver metal can wreak havoc on the neurological system. Pregnant women and children are especially at risk, which is one reason why many governments issue health restrictions on what kind of fish people should eat when pregnant.
Previously, researchers thought that the thawing of permafrost released a minimum of 40 kilograms of mercury per square kilometer, or up to 150, a large range that leaves much room for uncertainty. The new study found that the minimum mercury release is actually twice as high, ranging from about 86 kilograms per square kilometer to as much as 131, and the method of confirming this by sifting through soil makes scientists more confident in their assessments .
Josh West, a professor of earth sciences and environmental studies at USC and one of the study’s co-authors, said the looming mercury exposure is extremely concerning.
“Permafrost soil contains more mercury than all the other soil on the planet, plus all the oceans, plus the atmosphere,” he said. “So there is an enormous amount of mercury sitting in this frozen ground where climate change is happening faster than the rest of the world.
“It has that feeling of a bomb going off,” he added.
Scientists analyzed sediments in sandbars and riverbanks near two villages in the northern part of the Yukon Village Basin, Beaver and Huslia. The research team included not only USC and university partners, but also the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council, an indigenous nonprofit organization representing dozens of First Nations and tribal nations dedicated to protecting the Yukon River Watershed.
West cautions that there are still many unknowns about the situation: Researchers are continuing to see if the mercury released turns into methylmercury, a toxic version of the substance that can cause brain damage if consumed. They are also looking into whether the melting permafrost in the Yukon River is causing mercury in the fish that nearby residents, including indigenous peoples, rely on to eat. Whether this actually happens remains unclear, highlighting the need for more data.
But what is known is that the Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the planet, and the thawing permafrost is already forcing some communities to relocate.
“Water is life for Native people in Alaska and when permafrost thaws, it just creates a whole host of problems,” said Darcy Peter, who is Koyukon and Gwich’in Athabascan from Beaver, Alaska, and works on climate adaptation at the Woodwell Climate Research Center. Declining salmon runs are already a problem in the Yukonpartly due to warmer waters from climate change. Peter says her people haven’t seen salmon in several years. “When we’re fishing, the last thing we want to worry about is high mercury levels.”
Mercury poisoning among indigenous peoples is already a global problem.
In Canada, First Nations peoples have suffered from the harmful effects of mercury poisoning in their fishwhere the pollution is linked to high rates of attempted suicide among youth in Grassy Narrows First Nation. In the Amazon, the largest indigenous tribe was called the Yanomami suffered high levels of mercury due to illegal gold mining nearby. The problem is so well documented that there is ongoing international advocacy for more indigenous representation at the United Nations Annual Convention on Mercury.
Unfortunately, Alaska is no exception. A 2022 study concluded, “Arctic indigenous peoples are among the most exposed people when it comes to foodborne mercury,” and emphasized the importance of cooperation with indigenous peoples on research.
Mercury pollution not only causes health problems or risks discouraging indigenous fishing practices. It is also another way in which climate change threatens the traditional cultural practices that indigenous people have engaged in for millennia. This is a threat to the cultural identity of indigenous people, not just their health and physical existence.
“Where I come from in Beaver, there are no grocery stores. We build our own cabins. We draw our own water. We hunt our own food,” said Peter. “We certainly feel it on a physical scale, an emotional scale and a financial scale — the decline of salmon and the presence of mercury on the Yukon River.”
