Coastal Resilience in Alaska

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The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) held a briefing on scientific developments and policy initiatives that are helping protect Alaskan ecosystems and communities from erosion, sea level rise, and other coastal hazards. Alaska coastal communities are experiencing extreme challenges as shore-fast ice—a coastal buffer to storm water—disappears and houses built on thawing permafrost buckle and become uninhabitable. Stakeholder engagement combined with up-to-date scientific analyses on environmental risk are necessary to create adaptation plans that make economic sense while assisting vulnerable communities.

The panelists described the collaborative process between federal, state, local, and tribal stakeholders in collecting, sharing, and acting on scientific data to inform policy decisions around adaptation and help communities define and achieve their resilience goals. These projects can serve as a model for other regions experiencing similar issues in high-latitude or coastal areas.

 

 

HIGHLIGHTS

 

Jeremy Littell, Research Ecologist (Climate Impacts), Department of Interior Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center

• Coastal flooding and erosion are affecting communities, so actions must be taken to resolve the threats that communities are facing. Scientific knowledge must be combined with indigenous knowledge to develop resilience strategies.
  • Climate change will exacerbate coastal hazards. Changes in sea ice, thawing permafrost, and rapid erosion make communities more vulnerable to storms.
  • Coastal erosion is occurring, but in most parts of the Alaskan coast, the necessary data to develop projections does not exist.
• On average, Alaska is warming at about twice the rate of the rest of the United States. Different regions of the state are warming at different rates, so adaptation solutions are not one-size-fits all.
• Thawing permafrost impacts ground stability and infrastructure, and the length of the sea-ice free season is increasing. Decreased ground stability and the coast’s increased exposure to storms (because there is less, or no, shore-fast ice to act as a buffer) will exacerbate erosion.
• Adaptation needs include funding, coordination of projects across communities, and data to inform hazard projections and risk maps. The rapid rate of change and incomplete data pose challenges to planners.
• Adaptation projects must address the socioeconomic complexities of Alaskan communities, including indigenous food and energy security, decolonization, and tribal sovereignty.
• The Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys Coastal Mapping Strategy is an example of successful data collection. The project compiled remote sensing data for use in flood mapping, but this data is insufficient for community-level modeling and forecasting.
• Federal agencies have begun to better integrate western science and indigenous knowledge. The Bureau of Indian Affairs now has a Tribal Climate Science Liaison, and the National Science Foundation has worked to involve indigenous community partners in data collection.

 

Raymond Paddock III, Environmental Planner, Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska

• There are 229 federally-recognized tribes in Alaska, and most depend on coastal resources to feed their communities and maintain culture. Traditional gathering calendars and important foods and forest products are all being affected by climate change.
• Tribal communities work together to offset costs, share limited resources, and develop partnerships to work toward common interests and respond to slow-moving disasters driven by climate change.
• Communities are affected by visible coastal impacts like erosion and permafrost thaw, as well as less obvious issues such as harmful algal blooms and ocean acidification that threaten food security.
• Since tribes have been part of Alaskan ecosystems for millennia, indigenous knowledge offers an important and unique perspective that is often not considered by agencies working on adaptation planning.
• The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida’s Climate Change Adaptation Plan was developed by the tribes based on their concerns and problems. The plan includes a template for tribes to fill in and implement based on their specific needs. The Council is now working on an adaptation plan that addresses the social and economic impacts of climate change on Alaskan tribal communities.
• Southeast Alaska Tribal Ocean Research (SEATOR) is a tribe-run organization that conducts research surveys on shellfish, algal blooms, ocean acidification, and biomass to understand threats to food security.
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 10 Tribal Operations Committee Subsistence Initiative is a partnership between the EPA and tribes to exchange information and assistance.
• Over 130 Alaska Native Tribes have issued orders asking that outsiders not visit communities at this time to limit the impact of COVID-19.

 

Aaron Poe, Coordinator, Aleutian Bering Sea Initiative

• The Aleutian Bering Sea Initiative (ABSI) is a regional partnership led by a steering committee of federal, state, and tribal partners that work on an equal level. The partnership initially focused on scientific research, but has since shifted its focus to adaptation and resilience.
• The ABSI has worked to minimize interactions between Steller sea lions, an essential species to indigenous people, and shipping routes in the Aleutian Islands. This project resulted in five voluntary “areas to be avoided” by shipping vessels to protect subsistence harvesters, sea lions, and shipping vessels themselves.
• Regional coastal resilience and adaptation workshops held in five communities brought together diverse participants from tribes and federal and state agencies to share information, tools, and funding opportunities and to listen to what communities need. One lasting outcome of the workshops was AdaptAlaska.org, which is a source of tools and resources and a place to share success stories and connect with others. Alaska Sea Grant is the primary organization updating the site, and it is a challenge to maintain.
• The Indigenous Sentinels Network is an indigenous-led community-based ecological and climate monitoring program. It is unique among citizen-science projects in that the focus of data collected is defined by individual community needs, communities own and control the data they collect, and the people collecting data are paid.
• The Sustainable Southeast Partnership focuses on localized environmental stewardship and sustainable economic development, and is a model for regional adaptation planning.
• Past partnerships have revealed many adaptation needs for Alaskan communities. Data is a key need, since many datasets that drive adaptation efforts in the contiguous United States and models do not exist for Alaska. Remote communities also lack telecommunications infrastructure and technology, and there is no clearinghouse for adaptation information, data, and resources.
• Barriers to collaboration and action include difficulty in accessing financial assistance and federal partnerships, a lack of venues for community needs to be heard, and a lack of central authority for adaptation leadership. Climate change is already changing the way people are living and people want to act, but are limited by lack of information and resources.
• Climate science has tended to underestimate risks, and communities are already seeing impacts that were not predicted to occur until 2040. There is no time to wait for a change in administration or new science or technology to act.

 

Q&A Session

 

In Aaron’s presentation, he identified financial assistance, lack of resources and venues to be heard, and a lack of central authority as three barriers to developing resilience in tribal communities. Are these barriers you experience, and what are some possible ways to remove those barriers?

• Littell: These are definitely limitations to what can be done, especially at the community level. All communities are affected differently, and dealing with those diverse problems is expensive and coordinating so many efforts is challenging. We need to continue working on data collection because conditions are changing so quickly that this process is never quite done. Scientists are getting better at listening to tribes, but dialogue has to incorporate all stakeholders involved. Different entities are also all working from the bottom up, and their efforts are not directed.
• Paddock: There is definitely a lack of resources and central authority. Tribes and organizations have partnered together to address issues, but this is not being done at a larger scale. In order for these collaborations to work at a higher level, we need bigger players involved as well.

 

How can scientists, planners, and others do better at including indigenous knowledge in climate and adaptation decision-making?

• Paddock: More work has been done with indigenous knowledge over the past decade or so. Tribes are building their capacity to use both western science and indigenous knowledge while implementing adaptation projects, and are reaching out to other partners to get feedback.
• Poe: There are two main pieces: funding and education. Institutions like the National Science Foundation (NSF) are developing programs with funding opportunities for knowledge exchange, and western science education needs to train or retrain scientists to work on co-production of knowledge with indigenous communities.
• Littell: Western science needs to continue to train scientists to value traditional knowledge along with other kinds of climate proxies to study past climate conditions, since there is intrinsic value in both kinds of information.

 

For coastal communities that need to relocate, what does that actually look like? How are resources mobilized, and how does that conversation get started?

• Paddock: In my experience in southeast Alaska, we have not yet seen erosion or floods that would force communities to move. Right now, we are experiencing more of the less obvious impacts on food security.
• Poe: One piece of the problem is that there are many competing mandates and jurisdictions that make moving a long and painful process. There is also a potential problem with disrespecting indigenous sovereignty if agencies tell communities what to do rather than letting them guide the process.
• Littell: Western scientists have thought a lot about the timing of impacts and risks to infrastructure, but this perspective alone does not do justice to other aspects of community resilience. Planners need to seek the input of those affected when selecting sites for future locations and what relocation means to communities.

 

What is the most important thing for federal decision-makers to realize about how to better interact with and support tribal adaptation planning efforts?

• Paddock: There is no one magic solution, but the federal government needs to give the support and resources communities need to address short and long-term issues in adaptation planning.
• Poe: Spending time and being willing to give up some power to have real conversations with communities and ask them what they need.
• Littell: There is a clear need for a co-production of science, and in many cases, this requires shifting the focus of science toward meeting the needs of affected communities rather than trying to generally gain understanding. Scientists and planners also need to do more interdisciplinary work and work with communities.

 

 

Coastal Alaska is facing rapid warming and corresponding environmental changes. This briefing provided an overview of the area’s environmental challenges; gave specific examples of projects that protect homes, ecosystems, and economies; and showcased the legislation, regulations, and programs that help (or hinder) those projects’ success.