Resilient Alaska Native Communities: Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge with Risk Assessment Through Local Monitoring

北极地区的自然灾害正在严重影响阿拉斯加土著社区的健康和福祉。2009年，美国政府问责局发现31个社区受到洪水和侵蚀的紧迫威胁（GAO 2009）。侵蚀和反复发生的极端天气事件破坏了基础设施，包括诊所以及水和污水处理设施。盐水入侵和永久冻土融化影响了饮用水的获取。在最极端的情况下，加速的侵蚀速度危及生命，并导致阿拉斯加土著社区选择重新安置他们的整个社区。搬迁涉及社区基础设施的建设，并确保维持或改善社区的健康和福祉。该奖项支持一个EAGER研究项目，该项目有可能改变人们的理解，并支持阿拉斯加土著社区的适应能力，这些社区正在经历环境变化对其健康和福祉的影响。通过这个项目，研究者PI Bronen将通过构建一种方法来确定是否以及何时需要进行社区搬迁以保护社区居民的生命和生计，从而解决阿拉斯加土著社区面临的最紧迫的挑战之一。研究人员将与四个阿拉斯加土著社区以及政府和非政府组织合作，设计和实施一种方法框架，以评估何时不可能再提供保护，何时需要重新安置。预计这些社区将代表一系列适应反应，包括“就地保护”、一些基础设施的迁移和重新安置。该项目的更广泛影响是为设计和执行一个保护社区居民健康和福祉的重新安置体制框架提供一个模式，并可被其他因环境变化而面临流离失所的社区应用。社区参与和赋权是非平凡的、多方面的挑战；然而，它们对任何旨在提高阿拉斯加土著社区适应能力的过程都至关重要。通过向社区学习并与社区共同创造知识，研究小组力求提高阿拉斯加土著社区评估需求和制定适应战略的能力，以保护他们的健康和福祉。此外，该项目将促进可能提供关键技术或财政援助的社区成员、政府组织和大学研究人员之间的协调。

Natural hazards in the Arctic are dramatically impacting the health and well-being of Alaska Native communities. In 2009, the US Government Accountability Office found that 31 communities were imminently threatened by flooding and erosion (GAO 2009). Erosion and repeated extreme weather events damage infrastructure, including health clinics and water and sewage treatment facilities. Saline intrusion and thawing permafrost impact access to potable water. In the most extreme cases, accelerating rates of erosion are life-threatening and are causing Alaska Native communities to choose to relocate their entire community. Relocation involves the construction of community infrastructure and ensuring that community health and well-being are maintained or improved. This award supports an EAGER research project that has the potential to transform understandings and support the adaptive capacity of Alaska Native communities experiencing the impacts of environmental change on their health and well-being. Through this project the investigator, PI Bronen, will address one of the most urgent challenges facing Alaska Native communities impacted by natural hazards by constructing a methodology to determine whether and when community relocation needs to occur to protect the lives and livelihoods of community residents. The researcher will work with four Alaska Native communities and governmental and non-governmental organizations to design and implement a methodological framework that can assess when protection in place is no longer possible and relocation is required. It is expected that the communities will represent a continuum of adaptation responses including "protection in place," migration of some infrastructure, and relocation. The broader impact of this project is to provide a model for the design and implementation of a relocation institutional framework that protects the health and well-being of community residents and can be applied by other communities facing displacement because of environmental change.Community engagement and empowerment are non-trivial, multi-dimensional challenges; however they are critical to any process aiming to improve the adaptive capacity of Alaska Native communities. By learning from and co-producing knowledge with communities, the research team seeks to enhance Alaska Native communities' capacity to assess needs and develop adaptation strategies than can protect their health and well-being. In addition, the project will facilitate coordination between community members and governmental organizations and university researchers that might be able to provide critical technical or financial assistance.