Under one of the new White House initiatives, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs will provide $11.8 million in grants to help tribal communities promote climate resilience through training and technological development to prepare for the future impacts of climate change.
“We know that the risks of climate change aren’t equally shared. We know that some communities, in terms of infrastructure and readiness, have been neglected longer than others,” said Director of White House Office of Management and Budget Shaun Donovan during a climate resilience event at the Center for American Progress on Thursday. “Climate change exacerbates these existing health and socioeconomic inequities, placing children, the elderly, the sick, the poor, and some communities of color at particular risk.”
For indigenous communities, the threat of climate change affects not only economic and natural opportunities, but tribal autonomy and cultural traditions as well. In the cool, lake-dense lands of Minnesota, the Chippewa tribes are struggling to maintain economic and cultural stability in the face of climate change. High levels of flooding prompted by rising temperatures have threatened the quality and sustainability of the wild rice and fishing industries that provide both economic stability and food security to the region.
Hotter summers, shorter winters, and diseases associated with this shift have also been connected to the devastating drop in moose populations in Chippewa country. What was once one of the greatest food staples and cultural traditions for tribes in Minnesota has become a conservationist cause, with populations dropping by almost 50 percent between 2008 and 2014.
Read more at Native American Communities Get Government Boost Towards Climate Resilience
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