Alaska Village Votes to Relocate Due to Rising Sea Levels

The residents of Shishmaref, Alaska voted to leave their ancestral home and relocate to safer ground as climate change-driven sea level rise threatens to engulf the coastal village.

©Gary Braasch

Home to more than 600 Inupiat Inuit residents, the remote island in Alaska is experiencing rapid coastal erosion as sea levels rise and permafrost thaws. The estimated cost of relocation is $180 million, which the community could struggle to raise due to a lack of federals funds. In Alaska, 30 other villages face a similar threat.

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