Reduce Your Risk

Although your community has little control over exposure to climate impacts such as increasing temperatures or thawing permafrost, you can still reduce your vulnerability by decreasing your sensitivity to climate risks.

Things you can do

Grow your economy Preserve health and adapt culture Improve infrastructure

Grow your economy

Jaqueline Ramsey, Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery, describes the process for analyzing water samples for ocean acidification to the Alaska Ocean Acidification Tribal Working Group.

Having a diverse economy reduces the likelihood that climate-driven disruptions such as wildfires or severe storms will have widespread and costly negative impacts.

You can reduce risk by starting small businesses that can thrive with local resources, instead of depending on outside resources that must be shipped from the Lower 48.

You can also support local businesses that align with community values and create jobs for community members, providing additional income and skills in the community.

Preserve health and adapt culture

Communal drumming as a means of healing, Tyonek, AK.

Maintain cultural traditions

Preserving and passing down cultural traditions is even more critical in the context of climate change, which is altering the landscape that has provided important cultural and subsistence resources for millennia. Alaska Natives’ traditional relationship with their environment is an example of responsible environmental stewardship, which is a key component of climate adaptation.

Thriving cultures are resilient cultures. Expressing your cultural identity and continuing traditions through subsistence and culture camps, as well as storytelling and learning from Elders, are all ways to preserve tradition.

Adapting cultural traditions includes:

documenting local and traditional knowledge
trying new subsistence species
developing new methods for traditional processes (including new ways of preserving fish or meat)

Harriat Kauffman of Tyonek at fish camp.

Keep subsistence alive

Keeping subsistence alive requires action at the individual and community level, with support from policy-makers and resource managers.

Individuals and communities can:

Grow food to supplement subsistence with fresh, locally-produced, healthy food
Learn about and apply food preservation techniques to make garden harvests last longer.
Engage regulatory advisory committees (Alaska Boards of Fish and Board of Game and Federal Region Advisory Councils) by testifying at meetings to give recommendations and share concerns

Policy makers and resource managers can:

Collaborate and improve communication to adjust subsistence seasons and other regulations based on new species patterns and conditions

Explore new or different management options
Build more flexibility into policies and regulations, based off of input from local harvesters, in situations where rising temperatures are affecting the timing of seasons and species availability

Port Heiden farm. Chickens and eggs are sold locally.

Maintain community health

Community health is a critical component of reducing an area’s vulnerability to climate risks. Solutions can include:

Maintaining homes to prevent fires and health impacts of poor indoor air conditions
Improving sanitation, waste and wastewater systems, and waste management
Implementing programs to reduce waste, reusing, recycling, and composting
Enforcing land use standards and practices that maintain ecosystem health
Increasing food safety outreach and testing efforts where there is increased risk of accumulating environmental toxins, such as in marine mammals or shellfish

Improve infrastructure

A community’s ability to withstand and adapt to climate change impacts is determined in part by the state of its infrastructure.

Climate change in Alaska is already increasing natural hazards like coastal storms and flooding, which has led to several emergency disaster declarations in Arctic coastal villages.

Infrastructure improvements such as fortifying seawalls or clearing excess flammable material around communities can reduce some of these climate-related risks, saving money and reducing the burden of clean-up.

Kodiak wind turbines. Kodiak produces over 98% of its power from wind and hydropower.

Produce energy, reduce carbon

One basic solution that saves money while reducing a community’s carbon footprint is investing in energy efficiency and renewable energies. Communities that depend on diesel generators can focus on conserving energy and installing more efficient systems, while other communities with clean energy options (such as wind or solar) can seek funding and resources to switch to renewable power.

Energy audits and weatherization techniques are also options to save money and energy usage in residential and commercial buildings, which can aim to be energy-efficient or energy-neutral.

Improve housing to be more mobile and less impacted by permafrost thaw

Healthy, durable, sustainable housing that is appropriate for a community’s location is critical for maintaining or improving climate resilience.

Communities can work with organizations like the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and the Cold Climate Housing Research Center to improve adaptive technology to be portable, self-contained, easy to maintain and repair, have a low environmental impact, be easily and safely disposable, intuitive to use, climate appropriate, cost-effective, and draw upon traditional technologies.

At home, you can help by:

Improving indoor air quality
conducting energy efficiency retrofits
Making weatherization improvements
Encouraging funders to change standards to fund more sustainable and mobile infrastructure (e.g., change Indian Health Service infrastructure standards to allow innovative water infrastructure)

Resources for reducing your risk

Categories: Economy, Emergency, Health & Culture, Infrastructure, Mitigation

Title	Summary	hf:categories
Adapt Fisheries	This project collaborated with three of the most highly dependent and diverse fishing communities in the region—Cordova, Kodiak, and Sitka—to develop fisheries adaptation plans. The work was led by community organizations: the Prince William Sound Science Center (Cordova), the Alaska Marine Conservation Council (Kodiak), and the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (Sitka). These organizations partnered with communities in their regions to ensure planning efforts were inclusive of broader regional climate impacts and resilience needs, and to synergize existing community plans for hazard management, economic development, and climate resilience.	adaptation-plan economy southcentral southeast
Alaska Fisheries Business Assistance (Fishbiz)	Resources for managing the business side of an Alaska commercial fishing operation.	economy
Alaska Food Policy Council	Works to create a healthier, more secure, and more self-reliant Alaska by improving our food system. Its newsletters often include grants for food-related projects.	health-culture
Alaska Native Cultural Charter School	Maintains Alaska Native culture and curriculum in Anchorage.	education health-culture interior northern southcentral southeast southwest
Alaska Native Knowledge Network	Provides resources for Indigenous knowledge in education and other applications.	education health-culture
Alaska Partnership for Infrastructure Protection	Works to integrate the private and public sector critical infrastructure owners into the municipal, state, and federal emergency framework, participating in all stages of the disaster cycle, from preparedness and mitigation through to response and recovery.	emergency infrastructure
Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program	Helps Alaskans with the practical use and conservation of the state’s marine and freshwater resources.	economy health-culture interior leadership northern southcentral southeast southwest
ANTHC Climate Change Assessments	To assess climate change impacts on public health, ANTHC completed Climate Change Health Assessments for several Alaska communities.	health-culture
Catalog of Federal Resilience Programs for Alaska	Helps Alaska communities identify federal resources that can support local efforts to gather and evaluate information about the risks posed by coastal erosion and other hazards.	infrastructure
Climate Adaptation Planning in Alaska	The attached report and accompanying StoryMap provide an overview of the current state of climate adaptation planning across Alaska.	adaptation-plan interior mitigation monitoring northern southcentral southeast southwest
Climate Science Primer and Projections for the Middle Kuskokwim	Covers the basics of climate science, including models, trends, and impacts on temperature, precipitation, permafrost, vegetation, wildfire, hydrology, invasive species, and subsistence resources for Georgetown, Alaska.	health-culture
Coastal Erosion Assessment for Alaska Communities	The Alaska Coastal Hazards Program investigates how the coastline has evolved and how it will respond to hazardous events and long-term changes.	infrastructure mitigation
Community Partnerships for Self-Reliance	Works with UAF researchers to support rural Alaska communities in long-term self-reliance and sustainability through community-driven research.	data-expertise health-culture interior
Copper River Climate Change Adaptation Plan	The Copper River Native Association (CRNA), with support from various partners, created a climate change adaptation plan to address risks like flooding, permafrost thaw, and shifts in wildlife that threaten subsistence practices in the Copper River Valley.	adaptation-plan mitigation monitoring southcentral
Environmental Health Field Services	Works with Tribal partners and communities to prevent the spread of disease and protect the health of Alaska Native people.	data-expertise health-culture interior northern southcentral southeast southwest
Foundations for Modular Buildings, Unstable Soils, and Floodplains	Multipoint Foundations was developed in response to continued demand for a foundation strong enough to withstand the rigors of flooding, permafrost, and other variable soils.	infrastructure interior mitigation northern southwest
Get Help with Hazard Mitigation Planning	Hazard Mitigation Plans may be integrated into community or comprehensive plans. FEMA requires baseline data of normal conditions to which changes resulting from disaster or hazardous events can be compared.	emergency interior northern southcentral southeast southwest
Iñupiaq Immersion School	The only Iñupiaq immersion school in the United States.	education health-culture northern
Ilisagvik College	A two-year tribal college in Utqiagvik.	education health-culture northern
Kodiak Climate Adaptation Plan	The Kodiak Area Native Association, with funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Climate Resilience Program and Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, developed a comprehensive climate adaptation plan over the course of the two-year project.	adaptation-plan mitigation monitoring southcentral
Native Voices from the Frontlines of Climate Change	An online video library focused on climate change, its impacts to Savoonga and Shaktoolik, as well as their response strategies.	mitigation southwest vulnerability
Personal Preparedness Guidelines	Offers guidelines and a checklist for personal emergency preparedness, including a set of guidelines specifically for Alaska Native communities.	emergency interior northern southcentral southeast southwest
Port Heiden Vulnerability Assessment	A vulnerability assessment developed from a One Health perspective.	economy health-culture workshop southwest vulnerability
Rural Alaska Monitoring Program	RAMP is a tribally-designed, village-based, resident-operated program to monitor existing and emerging climate-mediated threats to village food and water security, and to provide data for adaptation strategies.	health-culture monitoring
Scenario Planning for the North Slope	Scenarios that describe how resource development could occur and what monitoring efforts would be useful to help protect people and the environment as conditions change.	economy northern
Sitka Landslide Risk Dashboard	In response to landslides that took place in 2015, the Sitka Sound Science Center has created a tool for forecasting landslides in the Sitka region of Baranof Island. The landslide warning system launched in the format of a “Landslide Dashboard” web page in the Spring of 2022.	emergency monitoring southeast
Solar Design Manual for Alaska	Solar photovoltaic (PV) modules continue to improve, and efficiencies above 20% are becoming common for commercially available panels. Learn more in this manual.	infrastructure
Yuut Elitnaurviat	Provides training for local jobs that combines intensive academics and on-the-job training in Bethel.	education health-culture southwest