Strengthening Resilience Today: Promoting Climate Adaptation in Alaska Tribal Communities Through Strengthening Individual and Community Resilience

Dates: November 14, 2024 8:00am to 11:00pm

From May 2023 to June 2024, teams from six Alaska Tribal communities participated in Looking Forward, Looking Back: Strengthening Resilience Today (SRT), a year-and-a-half-long climate adaptation training series hosted by the Alaska Tribal Resilience Learning Network (TRLN) and the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society (NAFWS) in partnership with Native Movement, the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, and other U.S. Geological Survey Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASCs).

SRT engaged Alaska Tribal community leadership, environmental staff and community members to work together on their identified climate adaptation priority, as well as to facilitate climate communication, community engagement, and knowledge sharing between Alaska Tribal communities. The goals of the training were to:

• Increase understanding of local to global climate impacts, adaptation, and action;
• Increase Tribal community engagement and cross-Tribal knowledge exchange in climate adaptation;
• Compile a baseline synthesis document with participating Tribes; and
• Increase climate communication skills among Tribal community leadership.

Participating Alaska Tribal communities included Hooper Bay, Paimiut, Unalakleet, Kokhanok, Klawock, and Igiugig.

During the first training in May 2023, activities included: community presentations on current projects, presentations on climate models and projections, listening to Tribal elders, workshops on initiating and communicating climate conversations at a local level, and a tour of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Georgeson Botanical Garden.

The training program continued throughout 2023-2024 with on-site workshops in each partner community, as well as a second training in Anchorage in February 2024. Each participating team finalized a climate adaptation document or resource that helped further their priorities. The training participants continue to connect with each other virtually.

Participants said the training allowed them to learn more about climate change, bring resources back to their communities, and improve team collaboration. Participants also found it helpful to learn what other Alaska Tribal communities are doing to adapt to climate change at the local level, and they continue to be in contact with and learn from each other.

Learn more on the Strengthening Resilience Today page.

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