Native American Environmental Knowledge Can Help Us Adapt to Climate Change

A special issue of the journal Climatic Change details research findings that focuses on the impact of climate change on Native American tribes and their adaptations to it.  

The research shows that the natives’ traditional knowledge of their environment has played a key role in their ability to adapt to major ecological challenges; and that this knowledge could provide scientific solutions to current environmental changes which effect all of us. 

The thirteen articles represent a partnership between Native Americans and researchers at Dartmouth College and other institutions; providing “a model for responsible and respectful international collaboration”.

• Introduction: Climate Change & Indigenous Peoples of the USA 
• Daniel R. Wildcat

• Justice Forward: Tribes, Climate Adaptation, & Responsibility 
• Kyle Powys Whyte

• Culture, Law, Risk, and Governance: Contexts of Traditional Knowledge in Climate Change Adaptation 
• Terry Williams & Preston Hardison

• The Impacts of Climate Change on Tribal Traditional Foods 
• Kathy Lynn, John Daigle, Jennie Hoffman, Frank Lake, Natalie Michelle...

• Indigenous Frameworks for Observing & Responding to Climate Change in Alaska 
• Patricia Cochran, Orville H. Huntington, Caleb Pungowiyi, Stanley Tom...

• Climate Change Impacts on the Water Resources of American Indians & Alaska Natives in the U.S.
• K. Cozzetto, K. Chief, K. Dittmer, M. Brubaker, R. Gough, K. Souza...

• Climate Change in Arid Lands & Native American Socioeconomic Vulnerability: The Case of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe
• Mahesh R. Gautam, Karletta Chief, William J. Smith Jr.

• The Impact of Climate Change on Tribal Communities in the U.S.: Displacement, Relocation, and Human Rights
• Julie Koppel Maldonado, Christine Shearer, Robin Bronen...

• Cultural Impacts to Tribes from Climate Change Influences on Forests
• Garrit Voggesser, Kathy Lynn, John Daigle, Frank K. Lake, & Darren Ranco

• Changing Streamflow on Columbia Basin Tribal Lands- Climate Change & Salmon
• Kyle Dittmer

• Exploring Effects of Climate Change on Northern Plains American Indian Health
• John T. Doyle, Margaret Hiza Redsteer, & Margaret J. Eggers

• The Effect of Climate Change on Glacier Ablation & Baseflow Support in the Nooksack River Basin & Implications on Pacific Salmonid Species Protection & Recovery
• Oliver Grah, Jezra Beaulieu

• Re-Thinking Colonialism to Prepare for the Impacts of Rapid Environmental Change
• Nicholas James Reo & Angela K. Parker

For complete PDF versions of the articles, click here.