From assembly to action: how planning language guides execution in indigenous climate adaptation

Indigenous Peoples of the USA are already feeling the disproportionate impacts of climate change and the challenges created to their resource-based livelihoods from effects like sea level rise, species migration and extinction, and more severe and frequent storms. In response, American Indigenous communities have initiated hundreds of adaptation actions. At the center of the Indigenous climate response are efforts to identify local climate threats and prioritize adaptation actions through careful planning. To better understand their potential, 14 tribal climate adaptation plans were reviewed to decipher different types of proposed adaptation actions and evaluated based on 11 criteria often associated with successful plan implementation. Adaptation actions were dominated by “soft” measures such as capacity building with neighboring jurisdictions, policy reform, and information gathering. The most common criteria present in the tribal plans were identification of a party to implement an action and mainstreaming of climate activities into other documents, such as resource management plans. In-depth interviews with tribal climate specialists found that actual implementation has been slowed by funding shortages, lack of staff expertise, and weak communication and coordination across tribal government departments. Successful implementation has occurred through the mainstreaming of adaptation priorities into other environmental concerns, such as hazard mitigation or emergency preparedness, that benefit from more stable funding. Training staff, developing dedicated funding streams, and the integration of adaptation efforts into all areas of tribal government operations is needed to ensure Indigenous communities can protect vital cultural resources and steward lands under rapidly changing climatic conditions.