Tribal & Indigenous Climate Adaptation

This four-part series is focused on advancing discussions about climate adaptation in Tribal and Indigenous communities, highlighting promising adaptation practices, and showcasing the diversity of approaches to climate adaptation. The series will interest not only Tribal and Indigenous professionals, but also their neighbors, allies, and other adaptation professionals interested in innovative approaches.

This series would have not been possible without the support of our Tribal & Indigenous Climate Adaptation Steering Committee.

Scroll down for more information on each session!

Session Descriptions

Session One - Wednesday, October 27, 2021

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This session will share promising approaches, lessons learned, tools, and resources developed by Pala's federally funded Tribal Climate Health Project (TCHP). In the last five years, this program has worked to strength U.S. Tribal capacity to assess and prepare for the health and other impacts of climate change through trainings, peer knowledge exchange, tools, nation-wide partnerships, data development, research, and direct assistance. This session will highlight the latest information on the health impacts of climate-induced wildfire, drought, heat, storms, and flooding on Tribes. It will detail how Pala has used its own adaptation experiences to inform the TCHP and how the TCHP continually informs Pala's adaptation efforts.

Presenters (see presenter bios here):

Shasta Gaughen, Environmental Director and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Pala Band of Mission Indians
Angie Hacker, CEO and Principal Consultant, Prosper Sustainability; Contractor for the Pala Band of Mission Indians' Tribal Climate Health Project
Syndi Smallwood, Guest Panelist, Jamul Indian Village

Session Moderator: Cynthia Naha, New Mexico Tribal Liaison & Science Communications Specialist, South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center

Session Two - Wednesday, November 10, 2021

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This roundtable will offer a conversation among colleagues working together to build collective power for community-led adaptation that is centered in the self-determination of Tribal communities. It will offer concrete practices and considerations for community-led processes to build partnerships, preserve culture, mobilize for advocacy and action, and advance solutions for community-led adaptation.

The panelists will discuss the importance of centering Indigenous Knowledges and wisdom in climate adaptation, a collaborative, community-led effort to protect and preserve cultural heritage and restore wetlands in coastal Louisiana, and a community-led process to develop federal policy recommendations on climate-forced displacement, among other topics.

Participants will come away from the session with concrete examples and guidance for how to support community-led adaptation through research, funding, and advocacy.

Presenters:

Elder Patricia Cochran, Alaska Native Science Commission
Elder Rosina Philippe, Atakapa-Ishak/Chawasha, Grand Bayou and First Peoples Conservation Council of Louisiana
Elder Theresa Dardar, Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe and First Peoples Conservation Council of Louisiana
Chief Shirell Parfait-Dardar, Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw and First Peoples Conservation Council of Louisiana

Dr. R. Eugene Turner, Louisiana State University

Session Organizers:

Dr. Julie Maldonado, Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network and Rising Voices Community Relocation and Site Expansion Working Group
Dr. Amber Moulton, Associate Director for Research, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC)

Session Moderator: Stefan Tangen, Tribal Resilience Liaison, Great Plains Tribal Water Alliance

Session Three - Wednesday, November 17, 2021

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This session will include three individual presentations from speakers Raymond Martinez, Joshua Rosenau, and Shasta Gaughen. These presentations will explore topics including community engagement, the integration of Indigenous and Pueblo cultures into adaptation planning, and transportation resilience and how it relates to access to health and emergency services. Speakers will touch on challenges and lessons learned throughout the planning and adaptation process.

Presenters (see presenter bios here):

Raymond Martinez, DECP Director, Department of Environmental & Cultural Preservation (DECP), Pueblo de San Ildefonso
Joshua Rosenau, Secretary, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes - Climate Change Adaptation Council
Shasta Gaughen, Environmental Director and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Pala Band of Mission Indians

Session Moderator: Nikki Cooley, Co-Manager of the Tribal Climate Change Program, Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP)

Session Four - Wednesday, December 1, 2021

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Inhabitants: An Indigenous Perspective is a 76 min feature documentary that follows five Native American communities as they restore their traditional land management practices in the face of a changing climate. Through conversations with Tribal project leaders and supporting foundations, the filmmakers developed a plan for creating a film to help document five Tribal land management projects. The five stories include sustaining traditions of Hopi dryland farming in Arizona; restoring buffalo to the Blackfeet reservation in Montana; maintaining sustainable forestry on the Menominee reservation in Wisconsin; reviving native food forests in Hawai'i; and returning prescribed fire to the landscape by the Karuk Tribe of California. Although these five tribal stories are not connected geographically, they share a common vision of restoring their cultural traditions to ensure a more resilient future in the face of a changing climate. This film was made collaboratively with a Tribal Advisory Board, which includes representatives from each of the Tribes highlighted in the film and the Kalliopeia Foundation. These partnerships allowed the filmmakers to ensure that the film is accurate, culturally appropriate, and meets the needs of the communities represented.

During this session, panelists will engage in a discussion about the documentary’s creation and the stories told in the documentary. Clips of the documentary will be shown throughout the session and attendees will have the opportunity to view the entire film with a private screening link on their own time.

Presenters (see presenter bios here):

Anna Palmer, Filmmaker, Kalliopeia Foundation
Costa Boutsikaris, Filmmaker, Kalliopeia Foundation
Kalani Souza, Educator & Film Subject, Oholana Foundation
Jeff Grignon, Forester & Film Subject, Menominee Tribal Enterprises
Herman Albers, Firefighter & Film Subject, Karuk Tribe

Session Moderator: Cynthia Naha, New Mexico Tribal Liaison & Science Communications Specialist, South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center