Adapt-In-Place Workshop

Addressing Climate Equity: Adapting in Place to Build Resilience and Community Well-Being in Coastal Alaska

Climate change is a slow-moving disaster, and poses a threat to rural coastal communities in Alaska who are highly reliant on federal programs for health, housing, and infrastructure. Within Alaska, 31 communities are subject to extensive erosion and flooding, and a 2022 report found that most of these communities are experiencing compounding impacts including but not limited to flooding, erosion, and permafrost thaw and may need to relocate (GAO, 2022; INE, 2019). The complete relocation of a community to a new location in Alaska faces unique challenges as Alaska Native communities rely on the subsistence way of life that has evolved over generations of interaction within a specific environment. Moving to a new location means learning about new hunting, fishing, and gathering areas distancing the community and culture from ancestral homelands. The major barrier to moving Alaska Native communities is cost. The 2003 and 2009 GAO reports on Alaska Native Village relocation estimated the cost of moving the community of Kivalija, which has 99 households, to a new location is $100-$400 million (INE, 2019). Recently, various programs in Alaska have been working with rural coastal communities to identify options for managed retreat. Rather than moving, managed retreat allows a community to map out its retreat from the coast to stable ground inland, putting in place a mapped strategy, and laying out roads and utilities for where critical infrastructure will be moved when a disaster is imminent and federal funding can be accessed.

The Adapt in Place workshop sought to remedy past problems stemming from community relocation by focusing on options for a  slow migration away from the coast that is less disruptive to communities. Adapting in place is a framework in which infrastructure within a specific community is relocated or renovated to prepare for extreme weather events or landscape changes, and may offer a more financially feasible option than rapid large-scale relocation. The workshop planners also hoped to design an event that focused on tradition, Indigenous culture and knowledge, and the sharing of stories and community. Thus, Adapt in Place was Tribally led with representatives from four communities in Western Alaska and one from Arctic Canada. The workshop was opened and closed with traditional songs and dances by local Yup’ik performers, as well as a ceremony led by Yup’ik elder Valerie Tony. Representation at the workshop was diverse with elders, youth, community leaders, and climate adaptation planners. Other community members who had relocated to regional hub communities, including Anchorage, were present to provide unique perspectives on regional adaptation and the continuation of culture in a time of change. The workshop was held at The Nave, a historic former church and community center in Anchorage’s Spenard neighborhood, where workshop attendees could feel at home, centering the idea of place as a prime driver of community. The novel workshop structure provided the conditions for lively discussion on adaptation efforts and plans that centered on Indigenous culture and local priorities. In the face of the serious threats posed by climate change, human and community relationships are one of the greatest tools communities hold. To learn more about the workshop and its findings, read the attached report here.