In June, AWA and our partners at the Native Village of Paimiut spoke at the National Environmental Health Association Summit in Anchorage. The summit, Climate and Health: Alaska Native Engagement Summit sought to “identify ways to address the urgent and disproportionate impacts of climate change on Alaska Native communities.” The summit followed-up on a 2023 publication co-authored by AWA’s Board member and Executive Director, Angute'karaq Qakvalria Estelle Thomson and Nicole Schmitt.
AWA Executive Director gives keynote address at the 2024 Climate Change Preparedness Conference in Las Vegas, with a presentation titled “Adaptation for All: How Wildlife are Essential Allies in Climate Resilience”.
So why was AWA, an organization dedicated to wildlife protection and conservation, addressing this summit on human health? Because human health is intrinsically tied to wildlife and environmental health. Particularly in rural Alaska, wildlife health is intrinsically connected to the health and resilience of human communities.
In 2020, AWA launched our Climate Adaptation program for wildlife with the simple goal: As humans struggle to adapt to Alaska’s rapidly changing climate, so too are our wildlife neighbors. This program seeks to develop wildlife adaptation plans that weave into and complement human adaptation plans so that people and wildlife have the best chance of surviving the changes ahead. In short, we create adaptation plans that both consider wildlife and utilize their abilities to mitigate the changes ahead.
As such, we’ve partnered with the Native Village of Paimiut to draft a Vulnerability Assessment for people and wildlife on 200,000 acres of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. This assessment is the first stage in planning demonstration projects that support people and wildlife on the Bering Sea. While this project has been underway for over a year, we’re just starting to share our findings.
We’ve presented preliminary findings at this summit, at a National Climate Change Preparedness Conference in Las Vegas, and brought concerns from this work to the White House.
Stay tuned for more information on our climate page!
Estelle works with high schoolers from Hooper Bay to identify native plants on AWA’s recent trip to the village.
Hooper Bay high schoolers learn how to measure the dimensions of ancestral pit houses and mark their locations on GPS. Many of the houses were dug into the dunes that protect Hooper Bay, and which are not at risk of washing away as storms become stronger and more frequent.
Dune grass restoration is one of the demonstration projects that AWA and the Native Village of Paimiut have been examining the value of.
