Three tribes communities are in danger of water level rising from climate change
The three indigenous tribes are in danger. All of them are located along the coast and river areas. They are Newtok Village, Napakiak in Alaska and the Quinault Indian Nation located on Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.
Napakiak tribe in Alaska is a small village of people in Alaska containing just 400. All of these communities are in danger of having their livelihoods threatened in rising water levels, and flooding risks.
They are at risk of being washed away by such flooding threats, suggested Biden, while he made an announcement regarding the move at the Interior Department’s Tribal Nations Summit.
US government funds $75m for three tribes from climate change
US government approved a motion to help three tribes who are endangered from climate change. They will be given $75 million to be divided equally among them.
The plan was announced by Biden on November 30, 2022. The funding will help the tribes to relocate their communities away from lowland areas which are at risk of flooding into higher altitude surroundings.
It will ultimately enable whole communities to move on to safer grounds. The Quinnault plan to use the money to build themselves a new community centre, which will double up as an evacuation centre, if the need arises in a natural disaster scenario.
https://www.congress.gov/event/117th-congress/senate-event/LC68920/text?s=1&r=1
The funds will help pay for approximately 25% of this project. US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said:
“Indigenous communities are facing unique and intensifying climate-related challenges that pose an existential threat to Tribal economies, infracture, lives and livelihoods.”
US’ more effort to help eight more tribes $5m each from climate change
The US Interior Department plans to go further in its efforts to help beleaguered tribal communities in their climate crisis plight. Eight more tribes will receive $5 million each, finally amounting to $135 million spent in this type of aid.
This type of financial support is a clever preemptive plan to relocate endangered indigenous tribal communities, so that their new homes will not be subjected to such climate crisis flooding threats, instead of footing the bill for costly repayments to repair land property.
It’s not all been a smooth ride though as there’s been some disagreements about relocation arrangements, to be decided amongst local residents.
In 2016 the Obama administration had pointed a similar relocation plan, the first of its kind in the US, funded with $48 million donated to the coastal in Louisiana, after it had experienced such flooding close to the Gulf of Mexico.
Source: Whitehouse, bbc
