Abstract
Racial and ethnic minority communities, including American Indian and Alaska Natives, have been disproportionately impacted by environmental pollution and contamination. This includes siting and location of point sources of pollution, legacies of contamination of drinking and recreational water, and mining, military and agricultural impacts. As a result, both quantity and quality of culturally important subsistence resources are diminished, contributing to poor nutrition and obesity, and overall reductions in quality of life and life expectancy. Climate change is adding to these impacts on Native American communities, variably causing drought, increased flooding and forced relocation affecting tribal water resources, traditional foods, forests and forest resources, and tribal health. This article will highlight several extramural research projects supported by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Science to Achieve Results (STAR) tribal environmental research grants as a mechanism to address the environmental health inequities and disparities faced by tribal communities. The tribal research portfolio has focused on addressing tribal environmental health risks through community based participatory research. Specifically, the STAR research program was developed under the premise that tribal populations may be at an increased risk for environmentally-induced diseases as a result of unique subsistence and traditional practices of the tribes and Alaska Native villages, community activities, occupations and customs, and/or environmental releases that significantly and disproportionately impact tribal lands. Through a series of case studies, this article will demonstrate how grantees—tribal community leaders and members and academic collaborators—have been addressing these complex environmental concerns by developing capacity, expertise and tools through community-engaged research.
Highlights
American Indian and Alaska Native peoples and communities (AIAN) are faced with ongoing environmental health challenges that demand collaborative and sustained research, innovative methods, and culturally appropriate interventions
The primary objectives of the initiative were to simultaneously: (1) conduct integrated research on how climatic stress factors might influence the health-protective properties of wild Alaskan berries; and to (2) assess local traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and risk perceptions regarding these berries, given the seasonal shifts associated with climate change
This is one example of how tribal research has led to the practical use of data on contaminant levels to help community members protect their health while following their traditional diets
Summary
American Indian and Alaska Native peoples and communities (AIAN) are faced with ongoing environmental health challenges that demand collaborative and sustained research, innovative methods, and culturally appropriate interventions. The STAR portfolio has supported three solicitations and 10 grants valued at $6 Million exploring how cumulative chemical exposures and global climate change are affecting Tribes, and to better understand the health effects of environmental contaminants on Tribal populations (Link to the solicitations may be found on the EPA’s webpage: www.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/archive and the STAR funded grant projects (with contact information for the AIAN communities and their partners) can be found at: www.epa.gov/ncer/tribalresearch and http://www.epa.gov/ncer/tribalresearch/. The research conducted by the grantees and their partners highlighted in this paper illustrates how AIAN communities identify solutions and apply interventions that have reduced negative health and ecological effects from the consumption of water and water-based food resources, other exposures to chemical contaminants, and impacts of climate change, while enhancing their ability for community-level risk assessments.
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