Tribal climate change initiatives
Although American Indian and Alaska Native tribes have contributed little to the causes of climate change, they face disproportionate risks. Tribes have unique rights, cultures, and economies
that are, or could be, vulnerable to climate change impacts. For indigenous peoples, the environmental impacts of climate change and some of the proposed solutions threaten ways of life, subsistence, economic ventures, future growth, cultural survivability, rights, land ownership, and access to natural, cultural, technical, and financial resources.
The Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station and the University of Oregon Environmental Studies Program are engaged in a collaborative multiphase research project to understand
tribal adaptation and mitigation planning, management issues related to changes in species abundance and distribution, and tribal consultation processes.
Specific topics include:
Tribal Adaptation and Mitigation Planning
Our goal is to increase understanding about tribal adaptation and mitigation planning in
preparing for the physical effects of climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This includes consideration of traditional and native knowledge in understanding
climate change impacts and identifying culturally appropriate strategies to address climate change.
Management of Off-Reservation Resources
This work will raise awareness about the challenges, opportunities, and implications for
federal land managers and tribes in managing off-reservation resources in the context of
climate change. We hope to build knowledge about treaty rights and federal land management obligations in the context of changing composition and distribution of culturally
important off-reservation species.
Tribal Consultation in the Context of Climate Change
We will examine government-to-government relationships in addressing climate change,
including:
Consultation and trust responsibility.
Cross-landscape climate change assessments.
Tribal involvement in federal and state climate change plans.
Tribal Climate Change Project Profiles
In 2010, we developed three tribal climate change project profiles, listed below, as a pathway
to increasing knowledge among tribal and nontribal organizations interested in learning about
climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.
Climate change and the Coquille Tribe
http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/northwest_coquille.asp
Nez Perce Tribe: Carbon Sequestration Program
http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/northwest_nezperce.asp
Swinomish Climate Change Initiative
http://www4.nau.edu/tribalclimatechange/tribes/northwest_swinomish.asp
The first three profiles are focused on tribes in the Pacific Northwest, although we plan to develop profiles of tribes across the United States over the next few years.
Pacific Northwest Climate Change Network
The Pacific Northwest Climate Change Network was established in 2009 following two tribal
climate change workshops, funded by the Pacific Northwest Research Station (see below). It
provides input and feedback on the research initiative as it progresses. Organizations involved
in the initiative cited a critical need for coordination and collaboration between agencies and
groups to meet the needs tribes have in accessing climate change resources and information.
This network helps fill that need. It includes representatives from the Intertribal Timber Council, the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission, the Institute for Tribal Governments at Portland State University, and the Affiliated Tribes
of Northwest Indians, among others.
We have convened two workshops here in the Pacific Northwest:
September 2009—Tribal Climate Change Policy Training in Portland, Oregon. (Hosted
by the PNW Research Station and Sustainable Northwest). The training increased knowledge
among Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest about climate change policy, with the
intention of helping equip participants to engage in policy development and take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adapt to the physical effects of climate changes, and apply traditional knowledge at a policy level.
October 2009—Tribal Climate Change Forum in Eugene, Oregon. (Hosted by PNW and
University of Oregon Environment and Natural Resources Law Program and the Wayne Morse
Center for Law and Politics). The forum focused the challenges and implications tribes will face
regarding climate change policy at tribal, regional, national and international levels, as well as
opportunities tribes have to engage in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.
For more information:
Ellen Donoghue
Research Social Scientist
USDA Forest Service, PNW Research Station
Phone: (503) 808-2018
Email: edonoghue@fs.fed.us
Kathy Lynn
Tribal Climate Change Project Coordinator
Univ. Oregon Environmental Studies Program
Phone: (541) 346-5777
Email: kathy@uoregon.edu