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AAA/CASCA Executive Program Committee
Executive Session - Oral Presentation Session
Marie Schaefer
Michigan State University, Department of Anthropology
The National Climate Assessment of the U.S. Global Change Research Program shows that the health, prosperity and welfare of members of U.S. federally-recognized Tribes are already or will be affected by climate change impacts that range from sea-level rise to shifting precipitation patterns to increased frequencies of extreme weather events. However, typically relationships between scientific organizations and Tribes can be strained by crucial ethical issues. If not worked out between the parties, the presence of these ethical issues can derail potential collaboration in ways that ultimately prevent Tribes from having fair opportunities to benefit from scientific resources. The Northeast Indigenous Climate Resilience Network, created by the Sustainable Development Institute at the College of Menominee Nation, has overcome these ethical issues in collaboration and has successfully worked with Tribes across the Department of Interior’s Northeast region and scientists at the Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (NE CASC) on planning for climate change that strengthens Indigenous resiliency and sovereignty. The Northeast region is home to over 80 federally and non-federally recognized Tribes across 22 states ranging from Minnesota in the West, Maine in the East and Kentucky in the South. Lessons learned from being an Anishinaabekwe (Anishinaabe women) working as a cultural broker between the Tribes in the Northeast and climate scientists at the NE CASC will be explored.