No abstract

This article identifies and evaluates strategies and policies for walrus management in

In Alaska, indigenous rural communities face climate-related challenges to maintaining their physical and cultural continuity. Some of these communities are considering ‘co-relocation’, in which the population of an entire community relocates to a new site on nearby rural land where residents can continue to practice their subsistence lifeways. Some Alaskans have called for government-assisted co-relocation for Alaska Native Villages (anvs), whereby national and State of Alaska government agencies pay for and lead the construction of housing and infrastructure at the new site. This model of relocation has many challenges, including expense, delay, lack of support from those outside anvs, confusion as to which agency will do what, and the effect of continuing an unsustainable Western colonial pattern. The state and federal governments, in partnership with anvs, need to explore what alternatives are available to preserve these communities’ physical and cultural continuity. This article considers the legal and political framework for relocation alternatives, and suggests pathways that would not require major changes of law or the creation of new agencies. I draw on various legal sources as well as interviews with anv members, Alaska legislators, Congressional staff, federal and state agency directors, academics, planners, and others who make or influence policy that could affect co-relocation.

Alaska is a large state with 229 nationally recognized tribes, known as Alaska Native Villages (ANVs). Efforts to understand ANV climate change adaptation have often been limited to a particular concern (i.e., flooding and erosion) in a particular part of Alaska (i.e., the west coast). My study is the first that I am aware of attempting to identify adaptation actions, strategies and barriers across the entire state of Alaska and recommend ways for laws and institutions to facilitate adaptation. In this article, I explain a distinct method for identifying adaptation actions, strategies, and barriers that draws on literature, community plans, laws, and interviews and conversations with 153 participants (including ANV residents and those that make or influence policy affecting ANVs). Rather than coding particular segments of an interview or plan, I numerically code interviews and plans as a whole, based on themes expressed therein and from the literature. At the same time, I keep track of quotations that help clarify these themes. This method yields a complex picture of ANV adaptation that shows different views of climate change and adaptation strategies among different sources. Preliminary results of the study suggest a need for measures to improve implementation of community-level adaptation actions, rather than perpetuating a system of government-sponsored planning and data collection in narrow areas. Institutional changes need to be incremental in order to gain political support, yet they must be holistic in addressing the many challenges that ANVs face.

Climate change is significantly impacting Alaska Native Villages (federally recognized tribes) as well as other rural and place-based communities that wish to continue their traditional lifeways. While many communities are looking to state and federal governments for assistance with climate change and other emergencies, there are limits to assistance under the current political and legal framework. This article discusses strategies for climate change adaptation that Alaska Native Villages and similarly situated communities may be able to take on their own. The article acknowledges the limits to these strategies and the gaps likely to remain in adaptation assistance. The article considers the Native Village of Newtok, Alaska, which is relocating to another site as an adaptation to climate change, as a case study in navigating adaptation assistance. While each community is different, several factors that have helped Newtok may benefit other communities: strong leadership; unified community vision and policy; a local coordinator serving as a continued point of contact; strong capacity for grantwriting; trusted, reasonably priced consultants; professional accounting services; and a housing policy to ensure fairness.