Presenting a Picture of Alaska Native Village Adaptation: A Method of Analysis

Abstract

Alaska is a large state with 229 nationally recognized tribes, known as Alaska Native Villages (ANVs). Efforts to understand ANV climate change adaptation have often been limited to a particular concern (i.e., flooding and erosion) in a particular part of Alaska (i.e., the west coast). My study is the first that I am aware of attempting to identify adaptation actions, strategies and barriers across the entire state of Alaska and recommend ways for laws and institutions to facilitate adaptation. In this article, I explain a distinct method for identifying adaptation actions, strategies, and barriers that draws on literature, community plans, laws, and interviews and conversations with 153 participants (including ANV residents and those that make or influence policy affecting ANVs). Rather than coding particular segments of an interview or plan, I numerically code interviews and plans as a whole, based on themes expressed therein and from the literature. At the same time, I keep track of quotations that help clarify these themes. This method yields a complex picture of ANV adaptation that shows different views of climate change and adaptation strategies among different sources. Preliminary results of the study suggest a need for measures to improve implementation of community-level adaptation actions, rather than perpetuating a system of government-sponsored planning and data collection in narrow areas. Institutional changes need to be incremental in order to gain political support, yet they must be holistic in addressing the many challenges that ANVs face.

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“…I thus avoid referring to specific numbers of participants, except to give the reader a general sense of how many participants provided a similar comment. To give an order of magnitude of the responses I got, I refer to "a few" (about 2 to 5), "several" (about 6 to 10), "a number of" (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30), or "many" (more than 30). These categorizations are not statistically significant and should not be interpreted in that manner.…”

“…article, there are a few instances where I have supplemented my research findings with my experience as a lawyer and planner for the North Slope Borough, a county-level government in Arctic Alaska (2007 to 2011), and for the ANVs of Allakaket (2016 to 2018) and Newtok (2017 to 2018). Additional information regarding methods is available in Ristroph[28].…”

Polar Regions

“…The Alaska Denali Commission, an independent federal agency designed to provide critical utilities, infrastructure and economic support throughout Alaska, is now serving as the lead coordinating organisation for Alaska village relocations and managing federal funding allocations. Several efforts have also been undertaken to provide assessment frameworks and protocols for settlement relocation as an adaptive resource (Bronen, 2015;Ristroph, 2017).…”