Abstract
Alaska Native Villages (ANVs) are trying to adapt to some of the most extreme climate change in the nation; but the planning systems in place for these communities are not necessarily leading to adaptive actions. Based on reviews of existing plans as well as interviews and conversations with 153 people that live in ANVs or influence ANVs plans and policies, this article describes how climate change adaptation and hazard mitigation planning is taking place and provides suggestions for improvement. Since few ANVs have stand-alone climate change plans, hazard mitigation plans are the primary plans for addressing climate-related hazards. Many ANVs have generic, externally produced plans which may enable communities to get funding for particular projects, but fail to address subsistence and other ANV concerns, and may never be implemented. While planners must grapple with limitations in time and funding as well as rigid requirements for hazard mitigation plans, they could improve planning by better incorporating community knowledge and lessons from past planning processes, developing action items to protect subsistence, and formatting plans so they are more accessible and useful. Key words: Hazard mitigation plans, climate change adaptation, Alaska Native Villages, indigenous communities, plan quality, subsistence.
Highlights
Alaska Native Villages (ANVs), federally recognized tribes and the communities in which they are based are grappling with climate change
Rather than hiring consultants to crank out HMPs in batches based on teleconferences and newsletters, the State of Alaska Division of Homeland Security could consider hiring a planning consultant to mentor community-based planners
Written plans addressing climate change impacts and adaptation most often take the form of HMPs rather than stand-alone adaptation plans or comprehensive plans
Summary
Alaska Native Villages (ANVs), federally recognized tribes and the communities in which they are based are grappling with climate change. Many are experiencing changes in flooding and erosion, changes to the species on which they subsist, melting permafrost and later formation of ice along their shores each fall-ice that used to serve as a protective barrier from destructive fall storms (Chapin et al, 2014; Field et al, 2014; Ristroph, 2010). Responding to these changes is difficult for a number of reasons. A number of American communities have no form of climate change planning at all (Foss, 2018; Susskind, 2010). Some communities are adopting stand-alone adaptation plans, while others have mainstreamed climate change considerations into other plans and programs (American Planning Association, 2011; Gerrard and Fischer, 2012; Hamin et al, 2014; Hirokawa and Rosenbloom, 2013)
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