Inuit Nunangat
Kakaallalit Nunat
Ísland
Føroyar
The Arctic marine environment is particularly sensitive to climate change. Natural phycotoxins are expected to increase in a warming Arctic, with consequences for cultural practices, food security, and human and ecosystem health.
PHATE is a collaborative initiative on Sustainable Arctic Development funded by NordForsk and Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund, with additional support from ArcticNet and Genome Québec. The project unites natural and social scientists, Inuit Knowledge Keepers, wildlife specialists, public health professionals, and policymakers from across Greenland, Canada, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Denmark, and Norway, with over 22 partner organizations.
By combining ecological data with cultural knowledge, community narratives, and food practices, PHATE seeks to co-develop understanding of toxigenic phytoplankton and their toxins, create tools for early-warning systems, improve risk communication, and support sustainable environmental management as the Arctic undergoes rapid environmental changes.
PHATE connects the Arctic marine ecosystem across past, present and future perspectives by integrating geological, biomolecular, historical, and narrative records, while promoting capacity building under a One Health approach.
Revealing spatio-temporal phycotoxin trends under
climate change
Community-led monitoring and toxin testing in animal tissues
Building detection and
prediction tools
Making information useful for both researchers and communities
