Helping threatened Alaska communities adapt

A report authored by Alaska Sea Grant shines a light on the challenges remote communities face in taking advantage of resources for addressing environmental threats caused by a rapidly warming Arctic. It provides insight and details regarding climate adaptation planning across the state and recommendations for federal funding agencies, communities planners, nonprofits, and others to help them get assistance to all communities in need.

Communities across Alaska are experiencing an array of climate change impacts, from permafrost degradation and erosion in Western Alaska to landslides in Southeast Alaska. According to the Denali Commission’s Statewide Threat Assessment: Identification of Threats from Erosion, Flooding, and Thawing Permafrost in Remote Alaska Communities [2019, PDF], 29 of 187 communities are severely threatened by erosion, 38 by flooding, and 35 by permafrost thaw. This year, a report by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Unmet Needs of Environmentally Threatened Alaska Native Villages [PDF], revealed an annual funding gap of $80 million over the next decade to mitigate environmental threats to infrastructure.

Over the past several years, there has been a substantial increase of available funding for climate adaptation planning, stimulating work at the region and community levels. However, this funding is not making its way to some of the communities that need it most. Not all small or remote communities have the human capacity, expertise, time, and other resources to develop and implement such plans. Getting under-resourced communities the assistance they need requires better understanding the specific obstacles they face.Alaska Sea Grant State Fellow Sean Kelly, under the supervision of Alaska Sea Grant’s coastal community resilience specialist, Davin Holen, investigated barriers to climate adaptation planning at the region and community levels. Kelly reviewed Alaska climate action plans, climate adaptation plans and assessments, and associated publications, reports, and articles. Further, Kelly conducted interviews with agencies, researchers, regional Tribal organizations, community planners, and other interested parties to gather insight on the challenges communities face in developing and implementing plans. The findings are now available in the report Climate Adaptation Planning in Coastal Alaska Communities: Challenges, Opportunities, and Equity Considerations [PDF]. The report’s findings are also visualized and summarized in an ArcGIS Story Map.