Adapting to a Changing Climate: Sicangu Lakota Oyate

To build this plan, the Rosebud Sioux assessed the climate crisis and its impacts on their community by incorporating the knowledge of elders, traditional knowledge, and climate data. This knowledge was used to identify priority actions the community can take, which fell into three categories: protecting the Oyate (community) by establishing a permanent tribal department and enhancing tribal capacity to protect life and property; protecting and wisely using water by adopting and implementing new adaptation and mitigation plans; and protecting the land and living relatives by establishing a Sicangu Climate Center to hold and manage knowledge about the Oyate, their relatives, and the changing climate, and use this knowledge to support the Oyate.