Alaska Native Communities to Receive Almost $75 Million to Help With Climate Change Impacts

Over the next five years, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium will receive almost $75 million to help Alaska Indigenous communities facing the impacts of climate change.

It is the biggest federal appropriation aimed at helping the state’s Native communities with climate resilience in Alaska history.

“Alaska is an underserved state on the front lines of climate change-related impacts that are altering the Arctic landscape and affecting every aspect of life in remote Alaska Native communities. The most effective way to increase preparedness and reduce exposure to negative impacts is to increase the region’s capacity to understand risk and develop and implement solutions,” a press release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office for Coastal Management said.

The grant of $74,950,045 was awarded through NOAA’s Climate Resilience Regional Challenge, reported the Anchorage Daily News. It is part of $575 million in funding under the Biden-Harris administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.

The grant is part of a program with the purpose of building resilience to environmental changes and extreme weather in coastal communities across the United States.

NOAA and the U.S. Department of Commerce recommended the award. NOAA will be partnering with Alaska Tribal governments as part of the program.

“The funding and partnerships not only acknowledges the state of our lands but acknowledges Alaska’s tribes as the rightful leaders in this space,” said Natasha Singh, interim leader of the Tribal Health Consortium, as The Associated Press reported.

The funding will benefit almost 100 Alaska Native communities, focusing on three main adaptation efforts: the establishment of a climate risk assessment program; expanding technical assistance for Tribal adaptation statewide; and knowledge sharing and networking, NOAA said in the press release.

“This project envisions transforming Alaska Tribal climate adaptation activities from a state of very limited capacity to a thriving network of practitioners making rapid progress toward addressing extremely complex, long-term problems such as community relocation, behavioral health, and food sovereignty,” the press release said.

Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer, leader of the consortium’s Climate Initiatives Program, said the funding will provide support for dozens of new positions, reported The Associated Press. Some of these will be technical jobs that require subject matter expertise in Anchorage consortium offices, while others will be located in rural areas affected by climate change.

“To build and advance the community of Alaska Tribal climate adaptation practitioners, this project will support the development of new networking and knowledge sharing activities to enable participants to learn from community experiences, share lessons learned, break down silos, and resolve other divisions to address resilience challenges holistically,” the press release said.

Jainey Bavishi, NOAA deputy administrator, said the new partnership and funding “will fundamentally change the landscape of Alaska tribal climate change adaptation,” The Associated Press reported.

Singh said climate change directly impacts people’s health and well-being. Melting permafrost and coastal erosion threaten buildings and infrastructure, while access to traditional native foods can be unpredictable.

By expanding resources and technical assistance, communities can start to identify and implement solutions tailored to their needs, Singh explained.

“Now the hard work begins, as we use this tribal self-governance model to allow tribes to lead us,” Singh said.