Paul Shewfelt of Ft. Yukon courtesy of Phil Loring (left). ACCAP's
Alaska Weather and Climate Highlights Map (center). Lead dogs on the pack ice in Barrow
courtesy of Lisa Baraff (right).
Native and Rural Impacts
Related ACCAP Webinars
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON WATER AVAILABILITY IN ALASKA
Brendan J. O’Brien, Climate Change Analyst, The Wilderness Society
This webinar reports results of research using data from the Scenarios Network for Alaska Planning (SNAP) to downscale and map projected changes in surface water availability state-wide. Future estimates of potential evapotranspiration have been calculated from averaged monthly climate data from 5 global circulation models, previously evaluated as best-fit for Alaska. Future projections are compared with a historical baseline to determine the magnitude of change over time. With significantly more water leaving the landscape, growing season water availability is likely to drop below historic levels by mid-century, leading to more severe water deficits across the landscape. Such a dramatic decrease in water availability will likely have strong impacts on the wildlife, vegetation, and human communities that depend on water resources. Join us to learn more about projected changes in water availability state-wide. With this information, Alaskans will be better prepared to identify species, landscapes and communities that are vulnerable to change.
Listen to the webinar Podcast
For the full text of the report, click here.
Presentation/Slides: Climate Change Impacts on Water Availability in Alaska
Listen to the Alaska Public Radio Network's coverage
Listen to KUAC FM's coverage (Starting at 5:19)
GOOGLE EARTH MAPS OF PROJECTED CLIMATE CHANGE IN ALASKA
Now Available from the Scenarios Network for Alaska Planning
Michael Sfraga, T. Scott Rupp, Katie Kennedy, University of Alaska
The Scenario Network for Alaska Planning (SNAP), housed within the University of Alaska Geography Program, now has Alaska climate change projections available for download in Google Earth Format. These maps show projected changes in temperature, precipitation, growing season length, freeze-up date and thaw date, and include documentation of uncertainties. Learn about these newly available maps and a discussion of how SNAP's continued work can be most useful to you.
Listen to the webinar Podcast
Presentation/Slides:
Google Earth Maps of Projected Climate Change in Alaska, University of Alaska SNAP Program
Instructions for downloading the SNAP maps:
SNAP Google Earth Download Tutorial
Fairbanks Daily News Miner story about the webinar:.
Mapping 21st Century Climate Change in Alaska
THE IMPACTS OF CHANGES IN WATER RESOURCES ON NORTHERN SOCIETIES
Dan White, University of Alaska
Water is critical in Northern Alaska for drinking and residential use in villages, for the construction of ice roads and pads in oil and gas exploration and drilling, and as habitat for migratory birds and water fowl. Find out more about how climate change has and will continue to impact availability of water in Northern Alaska
Listen to the webinar Podcast
Presentation/Slides: The Impacts of Changes in Water Resources on Northern Societies
Webinar Summary:The Impacts of Changes in Water Resources on Northern Societies
Related References: Journal of American Water Resources Association on Water Use from Arctic Lakes: Identification, Impacts and Decision Support
CLIMATE CHANGE SCENARIOS FOR YUKON FLATS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, ALASKA
Anna Springsteen, University of Alaska and The Wilderness Society
Dr. Wendy Loya, The Wilderness Society
In conjunction with the University of Alaska, Scenario Network for Alaska Planning, we analyzed predictions from the 5 climate models that perform best in Alaska to understand how climate change may affect Yukon Flats NWR over the next ~80 years. Learn more about projected changes in temperature and precipitation and the resulting possible impacts on growing season, fire regimes, permafrost stability, and river and lake hydrology.
Listen to the webinar Podcast
Presentation/Slides: Climate Change Scenarios for Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, AlaskaPresentation Summary (2-page written summary):Climate Change Scenarios for Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska
SEA ICE CHANGE AROUND ALASKA AND IMPACTS ON HUMAN ACTIVITIES
Hajo Eicken, University of Alaska
The Arctic sea-ice cover is rapidly transforming, with sustained northward retreat of the summer ice edge and thinning of the pack ice. The seas around Alaska have experienced some of the largest changes anywhere in the Arctic. The talk discussed some of the causes of such change and what this may mean for coastal communities, marine ecosystems and industrial activities.
Listen to the webinar Podcast
Presentation/Slides: Sea Ice Change and Impacts on Human Activities
CHANGES IN SEASONALITY: IMPACTS ON RURAL COMMUNITIES IN THE ALASKAN INTERIOR
Craig Gerlach & John Walsh, University of Alaska
Extreme high or low precipitation and/or temperatures and the timing of freeze-up and spring melt, all affect river and air transportation and subsistence harvest in Alaska. Learn how changes in seasonality impact residents and businesses that operate in the interior. The goal of the discussion was to identify specific climate information needs in the interior and to brainstorm ways to meet those needs.
Presentations/Slides:
Interior Alaska: Bellweather of Global Warming - John Walsh
Examples of Climate Products from Arizona - Colin West
Related ACCAP Research Projects
Cross-Regional Dialogue: Climate Change, Water Impacts and Indigenous People.
With global temperatures on the rise, the impact of drought on
water supplies and ecosystems can only be expected to increase in
the coming years. Being prepared by better understanding drought
planning innovations and the array of monitoring and forecasting
resources may help reduce vulnerabilities and avert disasters.
This project, supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), aims to use modern communication technologies
to open a dialogue among tribal and indigenous decisionmakers
and resource managers from Alaska, the US Southwest, and
the Pacific Islands as well as climate scientists from these regions.
The Synergistic Effects of Climate Change and Land Use in the Upper Yukon River Watershed
There are seven rural communities in the Yukon Flats, with Fort Yukon as the primary hub and service center; all of the villages are home to a large Alaskan Gwich’in and a smaller Koyukon Athabascan population. Partly because of an important historical and cultural connection to hunting and fishing, and partly because of the fact that a large segment of the population now lives below the poverty level as defined by the federal government, rural residents throughout the Yukon Flats depend on subsistence hunting and fishing and country foods (plants and animals) for survival and community well-being. The cumulative and synergistic effects of global climate, land use, and economic changes create scenarios of real and perceived stability and instability in interior rural Alaskan communities, with local stakeholders having relatively little access to and influence over scientific findings, policy development, and decision making about the same by federal and state land managers. An integrated assessment of the consequences of the impacts of climate variability and change and stakeholder needs for weather and climate products will be strategically implemented throughout the five year project. The central partner organization for this project is the Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments (CATG), which represents the tribal chiefs of the seven regional villages on matters of natural resource management and development, as well as about matters of subsistence and health and well-being for all village resource users. The collaboration will include contributions by John Walsh on climate, Terry Chapin on fire ecology and ecosystem issues, and Larry Duffy on contaminants, perceptions of food quality, the impact of contaminants on ecosystem stability and change, and on the relationship between contaminants flows and concentrations and climate change.
Links and Resources
Alaska Native Knowledge Network Resources including publications, talking maps, curriculum, and cultural atlases for compiling and exchanging information related to Alaska Native knowledge systems and ways of knowing.
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Center for Climate and Health The mission of the ANTHC Center for Climate and Health (CCH) is to help the Alaska Tribal System adapt to the new and emerging risks associated with climate change. The CCH works closely with governments at the local and regional level, academic institutions and public and private organizations to understand local changes and to develop strategies that encourage wellness, resilience and sustainability.
American Indian & Alaska Native Climate Change Working Group
Article on: Food, culture, and human health in Alaska: an integrative health approach to food security
Climate Change Planning Tools for First Nations, Center for Indigenous Environmental Resources. These six Guidebooks ‘walk and talk’ a First Nation through the climate change planning process. They contain: suggestions of how a First Nation might plan for climate change, how to involve the community, and activities that a First Nation can use to involve members of the community to set priorities and achieve them.
Climate Witness Community Toolkit, the World Wildlife Fund. This Climate Witness Toolkit is the result of a process undertaken on Kabara, Fiji, (the first
Climate Witness site in the Pacific) to document local impacts of climate change and to devise
appropriate adaptation measures that local communities can implement themselves.
Communities of Practice: Climate Change Forum, National Congress of American Indians Policy Research Center. By registering with this new online community, you can learn about important events, share information and resources using online document libraries, discuss collaborative projects on message boards, and meet others working in the field
Elder's Panel Recordings From a conference on Climate, Language and Indigenous Perspectives held at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (August 13-15, 2008). Sponsored by the Alaska Native Language Center and the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy.
Indigenous People's Global Summit on Climate Change. The purpose of the 2009 summit was to enable Indigenous peoples from all regions of the globe to exchange their knowledge and experience in adapting to the impacts of climate change, and to develop key messages and recommendations to be articulated to the world at the Conference of Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009. Information available includes the declaration, proceedings and articles, background, webcasts, photo gallery, program, thematic sessions, portal, and media information.
Learning and Knowing in Indigenous Societies Today The book is organised into three sections: The first addresses the link between indigenous knowledge and indigenous language, and explores the opportunities this interconnection provides for understanding and countering declines in both. The second section examines how the loss of indigenous knowledge due to insensitive school programs may be countered by integrating indigenous knowledge and languages into school curricula. The third section explores the need for the revitalisation of indigenous ways of learning and how this may be practically viable in modern contexts.
National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) NCAI serves to secure for ourselves and our descendants the rights and benefits to which we are entitled; to enlighten the public toward the better understanding of the Indian people; to preserve rights under Indian treaties or agreements with the United States; and to promote the common welfare of the American Indians and Alaska Natives.
National Tribal Environmental Council (NTEC) NTEC was formed in 1991 as a membership organization dedicated to working with and assisting tribes in the protection and preservation of tribal environments. NTEC's membership is open to any federally-recognized tribe throughout the United States, and currently has 184 member tribes. Although NTEC is a membership organization, its services are provided to all federally-recognized tribes.
Report: 2008 United Nations International Expert Group Meeting on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change
Tribes and Climate Change, EPA Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals, USEPA. This website provides information and resources tailored to helping Native people gain a better understanding of climate change and its impacts on their communities. Here you'll find basic climate-change information; profiles of tribes in diverse regions of the U.S., including Alaska, who are coping with climate change impacts; audio files of elders discussing the issue from traditional perspectives; and resources and contacts you can use to develop climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.
Ways for Indigenous Peoples' groups to advance adaptation concerns and solutions through international fora , Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development
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