Tribal Climate Change Guide

The Tribal Climate Change Guide is part of the Pacific Northwest Tribal Climate Change Project (TCCP). The TCCP is part of the L.I.G.H.T. Foundation (LF), is an independent, Indigenous-led, conservation 501(c)(3) nonprofit established on the Colville Indian Reservation in the traditional territory of the Nespelem Tribe in present-day north central Washington State. LF supports the restoration and cultivation of native Plant and Pollinator Relatives and the culturally respectful conservation of habitats and ecosystems which are climate resilient and adaptive. For more information about LF, visit: https://thepnwlf.org/. For more information about the Tribal Climate Change Project, visit: https://tribalclimate.uoregon.edu/. If you would like to add information to this guide, please email kathy.lynn.or@gmail.com.

Relocating Kivalina

Type

Tribal Profiles

Organization

U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit

Description

Temperatures in the Arctic are rising at more than twice the rate of the global average. Results include violent ocean storms, flooding, and erosion beneath the homes of Kivalina—impacts that have been traumatic to the barrier island's Alaskan Iñupiaq community. Sea ice that once protected the island from winter storms no longer forms early enough in the fall to prevent rising waters and storm surge from reaching the island's shores. Patchy sea ice also makes winter travel and hunting difficult and dangerous. Residents and others are making concerted efforts to move the community to safety.

Geography

Alaska. Arctic

Website

https://toolkit.climate.gov/case-studies/relocating-kivalina

The Tribal Climate Change Guide is supported through partnerships between the University of Oregon Environmental Studies Program and the North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative, the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals and the Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 Tribal Program.
Questions about this Guide should be directed to kathy@uoregon.edu.