This paper examines the potential impacts of climate change on Native peoples and their native homelands. It is intended as a resource for formal and informal educators. The paper's content is based on an Assessment paper written for the National Assessment Synthesis of the potential impacts of climate variability and change for the US. Special thanks go to the authors for allowing it to be the basis of this paper: Schuyler Houser, Verna Teller, Michael MacCracken, Robert Gough, and Patrick Spears, “Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change for Native Peoples and Native Homelands -- , pp. 351-377 The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change: Foundation Report, Report by the National Assessment Synthesis Team for the US Global Change Research Program, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 620pp., 2001.

The synthesis paper evolved from a workshop attended by representatives from tribes, tribal governments, other government entities, academic and non-governmental organizations; from Assessment research; and other research reports. Workshop participants identified many potential environmental, social, and economic impacts of climate change that were of concern to them. Five of these are discussed: community development and tourism; human health and extreme events; rights to water; subsistence economies; and cultural sites, wildlife, and natural resources. Each topic is addressed in turn below, accompanied by initial suggestions about how the region may be able to cope with or ameliorate the potential impacts.

Some of the identified topics are already issues of concern to Natives for reasons other than climate changes. For example, climate change is very likely to increase the rate at which sea level is rising. This is a potential problem because many coastal communities and infrastructure are built in vulnerable locations or according to building codes that are not likely to be stringent enough to protect them. Potential climate impacts give one additional reason for considering actions. It is also important to realize that some of the projected climate changes and their impacts will be gradual and slow to develop while others will be nearer term and more noticeable. Also, because we are talking about changes and impacts extending over as much as the next 100 years, we may well have time to take actions that could make it easier to moderate the potential negative consequences.

The focus of this paper is less on the potential positive consequences because government responsibilities are typically to ameliorate adverse consequences, because they tend to be within the realm of past experience. Positive outcomes typically arise as people identify the opportunities changes present and create new (and less foreseeable) activities. Therefore, caution should be taken in drawing conclusions about potential net consequences - while change will occur, how society responds will be a key determinant for many types of consequences.

For additional information on this region, please see the Native Peoples/Native Homelands Regional Workshop and Assessment reports. The National Assessment Synthesis reports -- Overview and Foundation documents also are available online.  This paper was developed by Dr. Lynne M. Carter.  Special thanks for reviews and comments go to Dr. Michael MacCracken and Dr. Schuyler Houser.