Climate Change Adaptation Planning On the Navajo Nation Navajo - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Climate Change Adaptation Planning On the Navajo Nation

Navajo Nation Climate Change Adaptation Report  Western Water Assessment  NIDIS (National Integrated Drought Information System)  The University of Colorado Law School

What is Climate Change Adaptation?  “Adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities” (IPCC WGII 2007).  Actions taken to alleviate or counter the impacts of climate change

Examples of Adaptation Activities  Seed banks  Land restoration

What is Climate Change Mitigation?  Actions that enable ecosystems to reduce anthropogenic influences on global climate  Combating the causes of climate change

Examples of Mitigation Activities  Mitigation activities include options to sequester carbon and reduce overall GhG emissions  Rangeland restoration  Reforestation

What is the Relationship between Adaptation and Mitigation?  Both seek to minimize the severity of climate change, but mitigation seeks to combat at the source while adaptation seeks to cope with the effects. Some strategies provide both adaptation and mitigation benefits.

What is an Adaptation Plan?

What Form should an Adaptation Report Take?  Ways to frame adaptation planning?  National, Departmental, Chapter  Across Sectors  Resource types  Specific Species  Specific Hazards  EXAMPLE: Drought Contingency Plan

What should the product look like?  Individual Plan  EXAMPLE: Swinomish Climate Change Plan  Can address these issues but be incorporated into another planning document  EXAMPLE: Economic Development Plan

Navajo Drought Contingency Plan

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Phase 1: Scoping  What is the focus?  Can vary in topic and scale  Who should be involved?  If possible, good to get variety of perspectives  Start to identify people doing the work

Phase 2: Vulnerability and Risk Assessments Info to set Info to identify Help us identify priorities actions knowledge gaps  Tiers  1) Current vulnerability and risk assessment  2) Future vulnerability and risk assessment

Phase 2: Vulnerability and Risk Assessments Who?/ Where ? What? WHY? How Severe? How frequently?

Phase 2: Vulnerability and Risk Assessments - Current &50>42=B!C<71:5:D<B! =8:;<;2=>!! C4E417;F!8C46D=;! (/0102345!467! (:80:=8:6:>08! 83523145!9482:1;! 9482:1;!! ! "#$%&'(! )*!'+,! *%-%.)! *%'")*! $:5020845!! ,8:;<;2=>!;=1?08=;! @!5467A3;=!9482:1;! 9482:1;! "6914;213823145! 9482:1;! Source: Cutter et al. 2010; Füssel and Klein 2006

Phase 2: Vulnerability and Risk Assessments - Current  Example - Golden Eagles on the Colorado Plateau  Current impact: Golden eagle populations have been declining in portions of the western U.S. Source: BLM Colorado Plateau Rapid Ecological Assessment (2012)

Phase 2: Vulnerability and Risk Assessments - Current  Why are populations declining?  Collisions with vehicles, power lines, and wind turbines/ electrocution on power poles ( infrastructure)  Secondary poisoning ( land-use)  Although legally protected, sometimes shot  Conversion of open shrubland to agriculture or development ( land-use)  Wildfire impacts on open shrubland habitat ( climate hazard)  Is drought having an impact? ( climate hazard)

Phase 2: Vulnerability and Risk Assessments - Current Example – Livestock on the Navajo Nation  Current impact: Livestock are dying  Why are livestock dying?  They don’t have enough water - why not?  Livestock ponds dried up (infrastructure and drought)  High winds damaged windmills ( infrastructure and climate)

Phase 2: Vulnerability and Risk Assessments - Current  Why are livestock dying?  They don’t have enough to eat – why not?  Plants aren’t germinating ( drought)  Grain prices went up, can’t afford supplemental feed ( socioeconomic and drought)  Less forage because land degraded  Overgrazing  Invasive species  Erosion

Phase 2: Vulnerability and Risk Assessments - Future  Start thinking about climate, hydrologic, and ecosystem changes

Phase 2: Vulnerability and Risk Assessments - Future  Start thinking about changes in other factors &50>42=B!C<71:5:D<B! =8:;<;2=>!! C4E417;F!8C46D=;! (/0102345!467! (:80:=8:6:>08! 83523145!9482:1;! 9482:1;!! ! "#$%&'(! )*!'+,! *%-%.)! *%'")*! ,8:;<;2=>!;=1?08=;! $:5020845!! @!5467A3;=!9482:1;! 9482:1;! "6914;213823145! 9482:1;! Source: Cutter et al. 2010; Füssel and Klein 2006

Phase 2: Vulnerability and Risk Assessments  Methods  Qualitative  Quantitative  Some combination

Phase 3: Option Identification and Prioritization Make use of Vulnerability and Risk Assessments  Golden eagles on the Colorado Plateau example VR – wildfire impacts on prey populations for eagles  Prescribed burning  Nursery with plants to restore after a fire VR – eagles getting shot  greater enforcement VR – wind turbine collisions  Consider eagles when locating wind turbines  Follow voluntary 2012 federal guidelines

Phase 4: Option Identification and Prioritization  Livestock dying on the Navajo Nation example VR – High winds damaging windmills  Is there a way to repair windmills to make them more resilient? VR – Livestock ponds drying out  Is it possible to regrade ponds to decrease evaporation?  Is it possible to cover ponds? VR – Erosion on rangelands  Identify and conserve lands with good topsoil for vegetation growth

Phase 3: Option Identification and Prioritization Types of questions to ask  Which species/habitats/crops/livestock are most vulnerable?  What is our budget?  What is our risk preference?  How will this action affect other sectors/ future generations?  What is our vision of what we would like our community/ ecosystem to be like?

Phase 4: Pilot Projects and Implementation  Do we want to test a strategy out on a small-scale (pilot/ demonstration projects) or a large-scale (full-scale implementation)?  You already have the information you need to start implementing strategies  Roles and responsibilities  Milestones  Budgets  Detailed timelines  Measures of success

Phase 5: Monitoring and Evaluation  Important throughout the entire process  Baseline monitoring  Monitoring to inform adaptation strategies  Monitoring to evaluate management choices  Citizen monitoring

Already basically doing climate change adaptation planning/implementation  Navajo Drought Contingency Plan  Navajo Natural Heritage Program  Navajo Nation Integrated Weed Management Plan  Navajo Nation National Veterinary Stockpile Plan  1970s: 10 Desert Bighorn Sheep in one population  Now: over 300 sheep in three viable populations!

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Questions?  Julie Nania - julienania@gmail.com  Karen Cozzetto – kcozzetto@colorado.edu

Resources  ITEP www4.nau.edu/itep/  Native Communities and Climate Change www.tribesandclimatehange.org  Cozzeto & Nania, et. al, Climate Adaptation on the Navajo Nation Report (W. Water Assessment and the Univ. Colo. L. Sch., 2013). Forthcoming.

References VULNERABILITY AND RISK ASSESSMENTS Glick, P., B.A. Stein, and N.A. Edelson, editors (2011) Scanning the Conservation Horizon: A Guide to Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment. National Wildlife Federation, Washington, D.C. ADAPTATION STRATEGIES Millar C. et al. (2007) Climate Change and Forest of the Future: Managing in the Face of Uncertainty . Ecological Applications , 17(8):2145-2151 . National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Partnership (2012) National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy . Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Council on Environmental Quality, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2010) Rising to the Urgent Challenge: Strategic Plan for Responding to Accelerating Climate Change .