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For additional information, see the
Mega-Region: Native Peoples and Native Homelands
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Links to Material from the Native Peoples / Native Homelands
Assessment Group:
- National Workshop
Related Articles from the National Assessment's Newsletter, Acclimations.
The Workshop
"Circles of Wisdom: Historical Reminders, Contemporary
Issues", the Native Peoples/ Native Homelands (NPNH) Climate Change
Workshop, sponsored by NASA, the American Indian Chamber of Commerce of
New Mexico, and the city of Albuquerque, was held 28 October - 1 November,
1998 at the Albuquerque Convention Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The
NPNH workshop was one of the series of US Global Change Research Program
(USGCRP) regional climate change workshops. This series of workshops is
seen as a first step in a U.S. national assessment of the potential
consequences of climate variability and change.
The goal of the Native Peoples/Native Homelands workshop was to provide
an opportunity for Native Peoples to participate in the dialogue and
consider the impacts of climate variability/change on minerals, plants,
animals, and humans. Native Peoples bring an indigenous cultural and
spiritual perspective, with their spiritual traditions and long community
histories of change, adaptation, and survival in specific regions.
The workshop was designed around the simultaneous consideration of
Historical Reminders and Contemporary Issues. Spiritual Elders were
invited to share their wisdom and knowledge of tribal histories and
prophecies. Tribal leaders, Native scientists and scholars, and community
members were asked to consider current observations of change and impacts
experienced today across the country. The workshop report is in progress.
Issues for Analysis
While the workshop encompassed issues and concerns of Native Peoples
from around the US and the islands, the follow-up assessment considered a
number of key sectors that are critical to the Native Peoples/Native
Homelands region - specifically in the southwest. Six major areas are
addressed in which economic and environmental impacts due to climate
change will probably be substantial. Key issues include: Water,
Agriculture, Human Health, Wildlife and Natural Ecosystems, Sovereign
Borders and Boundaries, and Tourism and Recreation. Some additional issues
identified by the participants in the workshop are being undertaken by
various of the other regional assessments, notably the Northern Great
Plains.
Strategy for the Assessment
The Assessment task of the Native Peoples / Native Homelands Project
was to identify, develop, and assess the application of NASA geospatial
technologies to issues of importance to the Native American community -
with a focus on the southwest. For over 10,000 years, native peoples have
adapted to the arid and varied environments of the Southwest. Developing
technologies and other coping strategies uniquely suited to survival in
the often harsh and unforgiving environments of what is now the
Southwestern US, the indigenous peoples developed some of the most complex
and sophisticated societies of the western hemisphere.
It was the intent of this research to investigate how modern NASA
technologies could be integrated into and support those strategies to
better meet the needs of the modern Native Peoples of the SW. This
regional assessment incorporated Traditional Ecological Knowledge by
looking at how the various climate change models might impact Native
populations. It was accomplished through directed interviews with Elders
of the Navajo Tribe.
Using the different climate models, researchers developed scenarios
that could be presented to the Elders for their input on how the scenarios
might impact Natives based on their knowledge and experience of short-term
weather patterns, such as drought, etc. The Elders were also asked to
describe the strategies adopted in the past to deal with short term
perturbations and what long-term implications could be derived from them.
The Assessment document is expected during 2002.
Principal Investigator |
Stan Morain, University of New Mexico |
Co-Principal Investigator |
Ray Williamson, George Washington University |
Coordinating Federal Agency |
National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
Agency Representative |
Woody Turner
Alex Tuyahov
Ann Carlson, National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
Key Issues |
- Water Resources and Water Management Technologies
- Health
- Management of Land Resources
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Assessment Team
- Caroline Ball, Department of Geography, University of New Mexico
- Mark Bauer, Dine College
- Amy Budge, Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico
- Linda Colon, University of New Mexico
- Rich Friedman, McKinley County GIS Center
- Laura Gleasner, Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico
- Kirk Gregory, Department of Geography, University of New Mexico
- Doug Isely, Dine College
- Rachel Loehman, Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico
- Stan Morain, Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico
- Paul Neville, Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico
- Lou Scuderi, Department of Geography, University of New Mexico
- Carmelita Topaha, Native American Studies, University of New Mexico
- Rick Watson, San Juan College
- Ray Williamson, George Washington University
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