IARC Seminar Series: Climate change adaptation in Alaska

Climate change adaptation in Alaska: planning, research and action in the face of rapid climate and environmental change
Speaker: Sarah Trainor, ACCAP

Warming in Alaska and the Arctic has been documented to be greater than twice that of other regions. However, the growing literature on climate change adaptation includes very few studies documenting actions in response to climate change in the North. This paper reports the results of a multi-sectoral synthesis of climate adaptation in Alaska. We engaged semi-structured interviews with key informants in conjunction with document analysis and literature review. Our investigation reveals three major categories of response to environmental change in Alaska: 1) community and institutional strategic planning, 2) environmental research and monitoring and 3) other action.

This synthesis reveals a gap between climate adaptation planning, research, and action. Adaptive actions are most often response to immediate environmental conditions rather than implementation of deliberate or planned adaptations to climate change per se. While planning and monitoring occurs at the state-wide or regional level, adaptation actions occur most notably at the local scale. This implies the need for 1) organizations that can foster cross-scale collaboration and knowledge transfer and 2) better understanding of barriers to adaptation, cross-scale linkages, and the role of science in adaptive action.