NCA4 Tribal input project

Team:
  • Chris Caldwell (College of Menominee Nation)
  • Marie Schaefer  (College of Menominee Nation
  • Rachel Smith (Salish Kootenai College)
  • Rachael Novak (BIA National Climate Change Program)

Goals:
  • To enhance the ability of decision-makers at multiple scales through the United States to anticipate, mitigate and adapt to change  in the global and local environment. 
  • Create a process for tribal input that empowers Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU’s) and creates a sustainable, multi-scale mechanism for information gathering and feedback.
  • Provide recommendations that can be used to guide future and sustained efforts related to the current process.

Current Activities:
  • Creating Initial Assessments to look for gaps in previous assessments done by the NCA. 
  • Professional Meetings and Conferences: Allows for the retrieval and securing of Tribal Input.
  • Creating Online surveys: to increase outreach.
  • Organization of Tribal input: Synthesizing a report for the NCA.

Timeline:
  • To have a rough draft for the NCA by; November of 2016.

Funding:
  • The Northeast Climate Science Center provided initial funding for CMN SDI to become involved in the NCA 4 outreach;
  • The BIA has provided specific funding for TCU's to help with tribal engagement for the NCA efforts. CMN and SKC are leading these efforts

what is the National Climate Assessment?

  • Created under the Global Change Research Act of 1990.
  • A team of 300 experts  an guided by 60-member advisory council.
  • NCA released reports in 2000, 2009 and in 2014
  • NCA is required to report findings every 4 years. These findings along with assessments, are to project both human an Natural trends for the next 25-100 years

(NCA) Goals

  • "is to enhance the ability of the U.S. to anticipate, mitigate, and adapt to changes in the global environment (NCA 2011:2)

Indigenous People and the National Climate assessment

Picture
Photo Courtesy of: The National Climate assessment This Picture shows that Indigenous people also live outside the Reservation borders. Many family's having to relocate to cities or other locations to find employment or to attend college.
  • Climate change impacts on many of the 566 federally recognized tribes and other tribal and indigenous groups in the U.S. are projected to be especially severe.
  • Traditional knowledge is a powerful tool that is now being recognized around the world.
  • Observed and future impacts from climate change threaten Native Peoples’ access to traditional foods such as fish, game, and wild and cultivated crops, which have provided sustenance as well as cultural, economic, medicinal, and community health for generations.
  • Climate change impacts on forests and ecosystems are expected to have direct effects on culturally important plant and animal species, which will affect tribal sovereignty, culture, and economies.
  • Info Obtained From: The National Climate Assessment

Indigenous Fight for Recognition of Traditional Knowledge

  • Indigenous Knowledge has not always been excepted in the scientific world. 
  • Traditional Knowledge was not put forth into the National Climate Assessment until 2014.