The Time is Now
By Rebecca Goldstein
11/11/2016
On August 16, 2016, the people of Shishmaref, Alaska voted on whether or not they should relocate their village. For decades, pressures from climate change, including sea level rise, coastland erosion, permafrost loss, and sea ice extent reductions, have damaged the integrity of the Sarichef Island, where Shishmaref is located. In the end, the people of Shishmaref voted, 89 to 78, to relocate. The Inupiat of Shishmaref are now among the first climate refugees in the United States.
The Inupiat established permanent settlements in Shishmaref, Alaska, 400 years ago. Even after the Inupiat transitioned away from a hunter-gatherer society, the approximately 650-person village upheld its traditions. The Inupiat continue to hunt and fish for trade and subsistence. But today, reduced sea ice challenges their ability to access traditional foods like Whitefish and Tomcod. Floods and storm surges also eat away at the island. With dwindling access to food and land, the Inupiat cannot sustain their home for much longer. Although attempting to repair the island was estimated to cost less than relocating, restorations can only provide short-term relief. The Inupiat voted to leave their ancestral home, but the truth is they didn’t have a choice: they must go at a rough cost of $180 million.
Climate refugees, or climate migrants, are a new kind of refugee. Typically, refugees flee from war, oppressive governments, or environmental concerns such as natural disasters, droughts, and famines. Climate migrants are different in that they move due to permanent changes in climate conditions. Whereas environmental migrants can usually return home, climate refugees cannot return; their land is forever lost to climate change.
The first climate refugees departed from small island nations, like the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, where rising seas have displaced its inhabitants. Since the devastation of its submergence occurred across the world, a sense of loss was hardly palpable in the United States. But we should not wait until these problems are close to home: as Shishmaref shows, if you can see the problem it is already too late.
Displacement due to climate change is not restricted to Shishmaref. Eleven other Native American villages in Alaska currently face threats to their infrastructure and traditional lifestyles. Additionally, the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw inhabitants of Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana have already relocated due to rising seas. The unfortunate truth is that people with the smallest carbon footprints, like the Inupiat of Shishmaref, are often the most vulnerable to displacement.
Climate refugees are new to the United States, and we are not yet sure how to handle the problem. Fortunately, some action has been taken to address climate change in Alaskan communities. On January 21, 2015, President Obama signed Executive Order 13689, Enhancing Coordination of National Efforts in the Arctic, which addresses the importance of Arctic territory and its inhabitants. In the order, the Arctic Executive Steering Committee delegates executive departments and enhances coordination between federal, state, and Alaskan tribal governments on Arctic challenges.
The United States is still creating the organizational and policy capacity to handle displaced people. Events like the Symposium on Climate Displacement, Migration, and Relocation, which will take place in Honolulu in December, are essential to tackling the intricate organizational, policy, and legal dimensions of relocation. These large-scale events foster discussions between tribal nations, scientists, independent organizations, and policymakers on important issue like finding new village sites and ensuring Native American cultural longevity.
Climate change already affects us. Emissions produced decades ago are changing our coastlines, swallowing villages like Shishmaref and posing threats to coastal cities like New Orleans and Miami. Our fight against climate change will determine whether peoples in coastal regions across the world can practice their culture and livelihoods without fear of losing the places they call home.
