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Developing a National Tribal
Climate Change Strategy
Jose Aguto
Issues
1. What might a National Tribal Climate
Change Strategy look like?
2. Mitigation and Adaptation Frameworks
3. Implementation Challenges
4. What can be done now to develop it?
2
Goals
 Tribal Climate Change is an
institutionalized aspect of federal
government climate change policy and
implementation
 Tribes are meaningfully informed,
engaged, and supported in partnership
with the federal government regarding
activities related to it at all levels
 Climate change impacts on tribal lands are
being addressed
 Tribes are participating in opportunities
created by climate change strategies (e.g.
renewable energy, carbon trading,
adaptation solutions)
How might the goals be achieved?
 At the highest level, creation of a White
House Domestic Policy Council and/or
Climate Change Council
 At the agency level, interagency
coordination on related tribal climate
change programs
 Tribal partnership, participation and
advocacy at both levels
 Programmatic and funding support and
innovation
What can be done now
at the federal agency level?
 Develop a framework for a coordinated response
 Forming, storming, norming and performing
 Convene a meeting of tribal and federal
representatives to develop a national climate
change strategy
 Identifying tribal climate change priorities
 Setting a framework for the consolidation of
information
 Create or join a tribal climate change network
 Develop or join a website providing updated
information on tribal climate change activities
and programs
 Host a tribal climate change conference in 2009 to
further efforts
How Might the Issues be Framed?
IPCC TAR WG2 Technical Summary
6
Within EPA
 Consolidation of tribally relevant CC
resources from program offices
 Increase tribal involvement in climate
change research (ORD)
 Increase tribal involvement in EPA
voluntary and technical assistance
activities (e.g. EPA SLCB, ICF)
 “Pilot projects”
 to protect tribal traditional lifeways (e.g.
TEK transfer)
 Investigate utilization of TEK for adaptation
strategies
 Work with Regions to assist tribes in
incorporation CC aspects into their
strategic plans (e.g. TEAs)
Mitigation and Adaptation Defined
 Adaptation involves Impacts,
Vulnerabilities, and Adaptive Capacity
 Impacts - The effects of climate change on
natural and human systems.
 Vulnerability - the degree to which a
system is susceptible to, and unable to
cope with, adverse effects of climate
change.
 Adaptation - adjustment in natural or
human systems in response to actual or
expected climatic stimuli or their effects,
which moderates harm or exploits
beneficial opportunities.
 Mitigation - implementing policies to
reduce GHG emissions and enhance sinks.
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg2/ar4-wg2-app.pdf
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg3/ar4-wg3-annex1.pdf
Mitigation and Adaptation Compared
Mitigation
•
Actors
Beneficiaries
Decisionmaking
approach
es
•
•
•
•
Decisions
Costs and
benefit
analyses
Desired
Outcome
Timing of
Outcome
•
•
•
Adaptation
Business leaders, policymakers and the energy
and forestry sectors
Everyone
•
•
Top-down
Combination of
innovative and
mainstream approaches
Crafted globally, ideally
with costs shared
globally.
Easier to quantify
GHG reductions to
mitigate climate change
impacts
Decades from now
•
•
•
•
•
•
All sectors and decisions
from the individual to
national – global level
Those who adapt
Occurs at different levels
– in particular, bottom-up
Tends toward
mainstreaming into
existing systems
Crafted for sociogeographic units (regions
and localities)
Difficult to measure
benefits
Direct physical protection
from climate change
impacts (context based)
Immediate
IPCC FAR WG2; Burton; Klein
9
How The Federal Government
Might Assist Tribes for Adaptation
 Allow Tribal governments, elders and Tribal
colleges and universities to collaborate
meaningfully with the scientific community
regarding impact assessments and science based
tools for decision-making
 Provide tribal governments with assistance to do
impact and vulnerability assessments,
particularly related to tribal lifeways and socioeconomic impacts
 Provide individual tribal governments with
technical assistance and funding to undertake
comprehensive tribal adaptation plans (e.g.
NAPAs)
 Provide individual tribal governments with the
funding to implement those plans
Other Activities
 Provide funding for the preservation of tribal
cultures and the application of traditional
knowledge
 Catalogue, the adaptation dimensions and efforts
of importance to tribes to form the basis for
informed policy analysis
 Providing federal regional offices with the tools
and resources work with the tribes, particularly
related to adaptation
 Facilitate tribal partnerships with state and local
governments, NGOs, and the private sector
Challenges regarding
Adaptation
Direct Challenges to Tribes
 Despite the resilience shown historically by Arctic
indigenous communities, some traditional ways of life
are being threatened and substantial investments are
needed to adapt or re-locate physical structures and
communities. ***
 Warming in western mountains is projected to cause
decreased snow pack, more winter flooding, and
reduced summer flows, exacerbating competition for
over-allocated water resources. ***
http://www.ipccwg2.org/
IPCC WG2 SPM 2007
Direct Challenges to Tribes
The most vulnerable industries, settlements and
societies are:
• in coastal and river flood plains
• with economies are closely linked with
climate sensitive resources
• in areas prone to extreme weather events. **
IPCC WG2 SPM, 2007
http://www.ipcc-wg2.org/
 Threats to traditional knowledge and culture
due to shifts and disruptions to the habitat of
culturally important species.
 Breakdown results in breakdown of the culture and
social order, resulting in the outbreak of social ills
on a systematic level
Climate Change and Pacific
Rim Indigenous Nations
from the Northwest Indian
Applied Research Institute
Direct Challenges for Tribes
Ecosystem structure and function, species’
ecological interactions, and species’
geographic ranges will experience major
changes. The resilience of many ecosystems
is likely to be exceeded. **
Biodiversity and ecosystem goods and
services (e.g., water and food supply) likely will
be negatively impacted. **
Warming of lakes and rivers in many regions
will have effects on their thermal structure and
water quality.**
*** Very high confidence: at least 9 out of 10
** High confidence:
about 8 out of 10
IPCC WG2 SPM 2007
http://www.ipcc-wg2.org/
Organizational Challenges to
Addressing Tribal Climate Change
 Tribal Diversity – location, size, biome,
population, impacts, economic, etc.
 Requires a tribe by tribe effort across the
nations
 Currently there is no federal adaptation
strategy
 Relative to states, tribes have
 greater dependence on federal programs
 greater challenges regarding capacity
inclusion and implementation of federal
programs, similar to experiences with
many existing environmental programs
 Many adaptation issues are or will be
incorporated into existing programs
Adaptation: the Cascade of Uncertainties
Range of possible vulnerabilities and
adaptive strategies constitute the next wave
17
Research Needs
 Processes by which adaptation is occurring






and will occur in the future.
Areas for leverage and action by
government.
Progress on adaptation and assessing the
direct as well as ancillary effects of
adaptation measures.
Synergies and trade-offs between various
adaptation measures.
Human intervention to manage the process
of adaptation in biological systems.
Resilience of socio-ecological systems to
climate change.
Economic and social costs and benefits of
adaptation measures.
IPCC FAR WG II Ch 17 p. 737
18
Research Challenges
 Only a small fraction assessments of climate
change impacts include comprehensive and
quantitative estimates of adaptation options
and their costs, benefits, and uncertainty
characteristics. This information is necessary
for meaningful applications of any decision
analytical method.
IPCC TAR WG II Executive Summary Ch
2 p. 26
 Understanding the full implications involves
areas of geosciences, ecology, economics,
sociology, political science, culture, and law.
19
Solutions
1. Developing Adaptation Plans for Each Tribe
(bottom – up)
 Requires federal technical assistance and funding
directly to tribes with assistance of regional federal
offices
2. Advocating for tribal inclusion in federal programs
for adaptation (top – down)
 Requires knowledge of existing federal programs
(via network, website, knowledge of and access to
programs)
 Organized and active participation at all federal
policy making levels
 Link to existing federal resources provided to states
and localities (e.g. ICF, EPA SLCB)
3. Advocating the value of traditional knowledge
3. Partnering with states and localities
Adaptation Policy Framework
United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) Adaptation Policy Framework (APF)
Executive Summary
21
Samoa National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA)
Indigenous Peoples and Adaptation (selected sectors)
The Value of Indigenous Knowledge in
Efforts to Address Climate Change
 Indigenous knowledge can become part of a shared
learning effort to address climate-change impacts and
adaptation, and its links with sustainability.
 Assessing climate change
 Arctic indigenous knowledge offers detailed information
that adds to conventional science and environmental
observations in the Artic Climate Impact Assessment
 In Arctic Canada, traditional knowledge was used as part
of the an assessment which recognized the implications
of climate change for the ecological integrity of a large
freshwater delta
 Indigenous peoples of the Russian North on climate and
environmental trends within the Russian boreal forest.
 Weather Forecasting
 Local communities and farmers in Africa have developed
intricate systems of gathering, predicting, interpreting
and decision-making in relation to weather.
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessmentreport/ar4/wg2/ar4-wg2-xccc.pdf
Water Security – Indigenous
Peoples in Latin America
Water security - In the highlands of Latin America, indigenous
peoples have been adapting since time immemorial to the
irregular distribution of water. Engineering solutions include
rainwater cropping, filtration and storage, and the construction
of surface and underground irrigation channels.
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessmentreport/ar4/wg2/ar4-wg2-xccc.pdf
Water Security - Hualapai Tribe
* Capturing rainwater with construction of water
catchments
* Removing invasive species which consume precious
groundwater
* Bringing back endangered fish in the Colorado River
Alex Cabillo:
[email protected]
Water Security - Hualapai Tribe
Deep well at
Grand
Canyon West
Water storage tank
at Grand Canyon
West
 Installation of new wells, pipelines and storage
tanks for future water consumption by the tribe and
wildlife




Mud Tank well drilled in 2004
Construction of a new water pipeline to Westwater
Replacement of the Thornton Tower water pipeline
Feasibility study for filtering radioactive well water
Alex Cabillo:
[email protected]
Water Rights and Adaptation
Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe
 Purchasing water rights and dedicate ‘them’ for in-
stream flows to protect biological integrity, riparian
habitat, improve water quality, and allow for
spawning of fish and aquatic life.
 Working with upstream stakeholders to develop a
watershed plan for using/ managing water to
protect regional beneficial uses.
 PLPT has worked since 1992 to develop the “Truckee
River Operating Agreement” (TROA) with all the
major stakeholders within the Truckee River
watershed basin. The final TROA document should
be signed by this fall.
 Removal of non-native plant species that compete
with native plants for water, soil nutrients, and
space, and replacing them with Native ‘drought
tolerant’ plants
Dan Mosley:
[email protected]
Mitigation
 Conceptually easier to understand and
frame compared to mitigation
 Less relevant to many tribes compared to
adaptation
 Opportunities for tribes (e.g. carbon
trading, renewable energy)
 Some mitigation strategies are
controversial and will meet political
resistance
U.S. National Climate Change Legislative Proposals
in 110th Congress (1990-2050)
12,000
10,000
Total GHG Emissions (Tg of CO 2e)
Business-as-Usual
8,000
Lieberman-Warner2
Sanders-Boxer
6,000
Bingaman-Specter3
McCain-Lieberman
Olver-Gilchrest1
4,000
Kerry-Snowe
2,000
Waxman
0
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
2020
2025
2030
2035
2040
2045
2050
Year
(1) Companion Bills; (2) Based on draft outline introduced Aug 2, 2007. Will be revised when bill is introduced in Sep 2007; (3) 2030 cap held constant through
2050 unless provision enacted to target 60% below 2006 levels in 2050
Tribal Mitigation Efforts
 Intertribal COUP installed the first utility-scale
tribal wind turbine on the Rosebud Sioux
Indian Reservation. (Feb 2003)
www.nativeenergy.org
 Port Graham Village (Alaskan) is assessing
construction of a biomass facility using forestry
waste to power their cannery.
Tribal Mitigation Efforts
 Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation
 began a feasibility study to analyze the viability of a
30-50 MW commercial geothermal power plant on
the eastern slope of the Mt. Jefferson
stratovolcano.
 NativSUN Solar
 Native American majority-owned organization that
has installed over three hundred solar systems on
the Hopi and Navajo reservations, and provides
installation, maintenance, and technical support for
photovoltaic systems.
www.nativesun.biz
Efforts to Address Climate Change:
National, EPA, and Tribal
U.S. Climate Change Policy
Slowing the Growth of
Emissions

Reduce GHG emissions intensity (tons/$GDP) by
18% between 2002 and 2012



In that period, actual GHG emissions are projected to
increase by 11 percent.
In 2004, U.S. GHG emissions were at 7,074.4
teragrams of carbon dioxide equivalent, an increase
of 15.8 percent from 1990 levels.
By 2012, GHG emissions are projected to increase to
more than 7,709 teragrams of carbon dioxide
equivalent, or 26 percent above 1990 levels.
http://www.state.gov/g/oes/rls/
rpts/car/

Twenty in Ten: reduce gasoline consumption by 20%
over the next ten years.

15% through renewable plus alternative fuels
(~35B gallons)

5% through vehicle efficiency improvements (~4%
per year)

GHG Mobile Source proposed rule

Voluntary programs: ENERGY STAR, Methane to
Markets and SmartWay Transport.
U.S. Climate Change Policy
 Climate Science and Technology
 Annual investment of over $5 billion in climate
change research and technology in programs such
as hydrogen and fuel cells
 Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) and
Climate Change Technology Program (CCTP)
 EPA has lead on 3 reports: 1 sea-level rise (midAtlantic), 2) adaptation options for climate-sensitive
ecosystems and resources and 3) human health and
welfare and human systems.
 International collaboration
 Commitment to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
 Collaborative work with China and India, among
others (SF6 and NH4)
Proposed Rule on Geologic
Sequestration
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/co2_geosequest.html
Geologic sequestration is a type of CO2 capture
and storage (CCS) process involving the
separation and capture of CO2 from an industrial
or energy-related source, transporting it to a
storage location, and injecting it deep
underground for long-term isolation from the
atmosphere.
EPA’s Voluntary Climate Change
Programs
In 2006, EPA climate change efforts prevented an
estimated 100 million metric tons of greenhouse
gas emissions, equivalent to the annual emissions
from over 60 million vehicles.
In 2006, Americans saved $14
billion on their energy bills and
prevented GFG emissions
equivalent to 25 million vehicles.
www.energystar,gov
 An information-sharing resource accessible to
tribal governments to assist in clean energy best
practices.
www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/stateandlocalgov/index.html
State and Local Efforts
 State
 THE WESTERN CLIMATE INITIATIVE (WCI)
A collaboration launched in February 2007 between
the Governors of AZ, CA, NM, OR, and WA to meet
regional challenges raised by climate change.
 Local
www.westernclimateinitiative.org
 International Council for Local Environmental
Initiatives (ICLEI)
 An international membership association of over 650
cities, towns, counties, and villages worldwide (217
in the US) committed to improving global
environmental conditions through local actions.
ICLEI provides resources, tools, peer networking,
best practices, and technical assistance to help local
governments measure and reduce greenhouse gas
emissions in their communities.
www.iclei.org
Tribal Impacts and Activities
Kuskokwim River near the Village of
Kwethluk
Tribal Impacts
 Diminishing sources of fresh water
 Increased defense of water rights
 Threats to indigenous species
 Threats to indigenous lifeways
 Loss of economically important species
 Increased costs for clean water supplies
 Impacts upon the health of the Elderly
Climate Change and Pacific Rim
Indigenous Nations from the Northwest
Indian Applied Research Institute
Newtok
Shoreline
Erosion
Tribal Impacts
 In August 2007, the Bad River Band of Lake
Superior Chippewa canceled its wild rice harvest
for the first time in history because low water
levels in Lake Superior had dramatically reduced
the rice crop.
 People on the Navajo Nation are witnessing shifts
and scarcities regarding traditional and medicinal
plants
Recommendations to Tribes
 Secure sources of water for drought-impacted
regions
 Secure sources of food stocks for emergency
conditions
 Determine how culturally important plant and
animal species can adapt
Climate Change and Pacific Rim
Indigenous Nations from the Northwest
Indian Applied Research Institute (Dec 06)
Next Steps from participants at the
National Wildlife Federation’s Tribal
Climate Conference (Oct 06)
Recommendations to Tribes
 Develop relationships with other tribes and
neighboring governments regarding
 agricultural production capabilities
 land use planning
 emergency planning for weather related disasters
 renewable energy policies
 carbon emission reduction and control measures
Climate Change and Pacific Rim
Indigenous Nations from the Northwest
Indian Applied Research Institute (Dec 06)
Next Steps from participants at the
National Wildlife Federation’s Tribal
Climate Conference (Oct 06)
Collaborative Efforts
between EPA and Tribes
 In Sept 2007, EPA issued an RFP for a
cooperative agreement to communicate
climate change impacts on, and adaptive
responses in Indian Country and Alaskan
Native Villages.
 EPA’s Office of Water is drafting a Draft
Climate Change Strategy and will be
soliciting comments from tribes and other
stakeholders.
 EPA is consulting with Tribes on the Mobile
Source GHG proposed rule and CCS/GS
proposed rule
Future Collaborative Efforts
between EPA and Tribes
 EPA in partnership with Tribes, will establish
an
EPA Tribal Climate Change
Workgroup
 To ensure that tribes are informed of and
consulted upon regarding EPA climate
change activities
 Identify and create opportunities across all
relevant sectors for tribes to address climate
change on tribal lands
 AIEO will devote future funding for tribal
climate change projects
 AIEO is considering the development of a
tribal climate change conference
Global Picture
CO2 – Temperature correlation
Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 in 2005
has far exceeded the natural range over the
last 650,000 years.
www.epa.gov/climatechange
Climate Change Science
IPPC WG2 SPM 2007
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg2/ar4-wg2-spm.pdf
Impacts
http://www.ipcc-wg2.org/
Impacts – North America and Polar Regions
Adaptation by Sector
Key Mitigation Technologies
http://www.mnp.nl/ipcc/oindex.html
IPPC WG3 SPM
2007