Building a research network to better understand climate governance in the Great Lakes

Bergstrom, Ryan D.; Johnson, Lucinda B.; Sterner, Robert W.; Bullerjahn, George S.; Fergen, Joshua T.; Lenters, John D.; Norris, Patricia E.; Steinman, Alan D.

doi:10.1016/j.jglr.2022.02.010

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…15). A number of academic publications have also pointed to shortcomings and pitfalls in current systems (Bergstrom et al, 2022;Bronen & Chapin, 2013;Marino, 2012Marino, , 2015Pennington, 2023;Ristroph, 2017Ristroph, , 2021Shearer, 2012). Some of the most frequently cited barriers to environmental adaptation include 1) the high cost of construction in rural Alaska, where the estimated of relocating a single village exceeds US$100 million in many instances (US Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District, 2006); 2) a scarcity of funding allocated to Alaska Native communities by government entities relative to the need for infrastructure development; 3) poor coordination between a multitude of federal agencies with overlapping mandates; and 4) barriers to accessing federal funds, e.g., through cost matching requirements.…”

Section: Background Environmental Adaptation In Rural Alaskamentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Climate Adaptation Governance for Indigenous Communities: Lessons from Alaska Native Villages

Lezak,

Rock

2023

Preprint

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Climate adaptation for Indigenous communities is not as simple as making good policy; it is equally about how policy is implemented and how collaboration unfolds between settler governments and Indigenous stakeholders. Rural Alaska Native villages are among the most environmentally threatened communities in the United States. Their ability to effectively manage environmental change and preserve sovereignty depends upon successful collaboration with a range of stakeholders, especially federal agencies. For more than two decades, academics and government agencies have documented a consistent pattern of failures, particularly by federal actors, in effectively managing adaptation challenges. These obstacles are sometimes misrepresented as policy failures. While poor policy is certainly involved in these poor outcomes, this paper highlights a set of barriers to successful collaboration that are not policy issues, per se, but rather micropolitical issues; that is, they pertain to the conduct of government in the context of tribal relationships. Unaddressed, these micropolitical issues have created obstacles to Alaska Native communities’ self-determination as they adapt to a changing landscape. These barriers are explored in a case study drawn from Typhoon Merbok in 2022, which struck Western Alaska, and empirically grounded in a series of interviews and participant observation with experts, elders, elected officials, and tribal staff. This article concludes with several concrete recommendations to improve the practice of domestic diplomacy between Indigenous communities and colonial governments.

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Section: Background Environmental Adaptation In Rural Alaskamentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Climate Adaptation Governance for Indigenous Communities: Lessons from Alaska Native Villages

Lezak,

Rock

2023

Preprint

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“…Specifically, the articles provide a broad overview of ecosystem-based management, regional demographics, and basin-wide research networks in the Great Lakes region ( Bergstrom et al, n. d. ; Fergen et al, n.d. ; Wondolleck and Yaffee, n.d. ), provide a framework for scientists to engage with coastal decision makers ( Norton, n.d. ), and characterize how resilience is applied as a concept throughout the region ( Dobie et al, n.d. ). Three papers make use of tools or methods to help communities understand how their history, identity, and sense of place contribute to their well-being and decisions ( Goralnik et al, n.d. ; Nixon et al, n.d. ; Thomas et al, n.d. ).…”

Section: How Themes Are Represented In the Special Collection And Its...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Setting an agenda to catalyze research in the social and organizational dimensions of Great Lakes remediation, restoration, and revitalization

Williams

McLaughlin

Seelbach

et al. 2022

Journal of Great Lakes Research

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“…Complicating the goal of successfully modeling contaminant trends across the Great Lakes is determining if contemporary trend models are able to adapt to the known and predicted consequences of climate change stressors and their eventual effects on the biological fate of top predators in the Great Lakes . Numerous publications have previously considered the ramifications to the ecological health of the Great Lakes due to climate change and include effects currently being manifested and those projected over the next 50 years. ,,− Many of these effects are centered around the increased potential for climate-enhanced extreme weather events; increase in flooding and erosion due to “unusual” precipitation events, storm-induced nutrient/toxic contaminant nonpoint runoff events, increased resuspension of nearshore contaminated sediments that can accumulate up the aquatic food chain, and an increase in output from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and combined sewer overflows (CSOs) leading to nutrient-driven algal blooms, anoxic conditions, dead zones, or enhanced toxic contaminant distribution in nearshore areas. Are climate-driven effects currently being manifested in riverine channels or isolated segments of the Great Lakes?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal Trends of Great Lakes Legacy Contaminants: Ecological and Biological Considerations Applying the Age-Trend Model

Pagano,

Garner

2024

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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The USEPA Great Lakes Fish Monitoring and Surveillance Program (GLFMSP) has been monitoring top predator lake trout and walleye contaminant concentrations since the early 1970s. Our research revealed that select legacy contaminant groups (∑PCBs, ∑DDTs, ∑chlordanes, and ∑5PBDEs) have similar t 1/2 and k 2 values across the Great Lakes, with the exception of both Lake Erie sites and the Lake Superior�Keweenaw Point site. The slower halving times determined at both Lake Erie sites are consistent with legacy contaminant remobilization due to extreme weather climate effects and past remedial actions on the Detroit River, whereas the Lake Superior�Keweenaw Point site demonstrates contaminant halving times approaching the exponential minimum. Overall, Great Lakes select contaminant groupings have decreased between 25.8 and 97.9% since 2004. An age-normalized Great Lakes Contaminant Index (GLCI) was devised, indicating both Lake Michigan sites as the most highly impacted. The mean absolute deviation statistic was applied, documenting the need to age-correct contaminant trends due to highly variable age profiles. With the noted exceptions, the uniformity of age-corrected trend modeling suggests that a combination of the fundamental biological and physicochemical mechanisms of natural contaminant sequestration, declining dissolved water concentrations, accumulation/metabolism/depuration, and the overall reduction of legacy contaminant loading are driving the generally consistent rates of declines in the Great Lakes. Many of the biological and ecological stressors currently associated with climate change appear to be accounted for by the age-trend model.

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Building a research network to better understand climate governance in the Great Lakes

Cited by 5 publications

References 44 publications

Improving Climate Adaptation Governance for Indigenous Communities: Lessons from Alaska Native Villages

Improving Climate Adaptation Governance for Indigenous Communities: Lessons from Alaska Native Villages

Setting an agenda to catalyze research in the social and organizational dimensions of Great Lakes remediation, restoration, and revitalization

Temporal Trends of Great Lakes Legacy Contaminants: Ecological and Biological Considerations Applying the Age-Trend Model

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