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35 N.Y.U. Rev. L. & Soc. Change 357 (2011)
Climate-Induced Community Relocations: Creating an Adaptive Governance Framework Based in Human Rights Doctrine

handle is hein.journals/nyuls35 and id is 361 raw text is: CLIMATE-INDUCED COMMUNITY RELOCATIONS: CREATING AN ADAPTIVE GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK BASED IN HUMAN RIGHTS DOCTRINE ROBIN BRONEN* ABSTRACT The specter of millions of people fleeing their homes because of climate change has sparked an international debate about creating human rights protections for climate refugees. Though scholars and journalists have focused on the southern hemisphere, this crisis is occurring with unprecedented rapidity in the Arctic. In Alaska, temperatures have increased at twice the rate of the global average. Arctic sea ice is decreasing and permafrost is thawing. These ecological phenomena are creating a humanitarian crisis for the 200 indigenous communities that have inhabited the Arctic for millennia. Dozens of these communities are threatened because of climate-accelerated erosion, flooding, and extreme weather events. The traditional responses of hazard prevention and disaster relief are no longer protecting communities despite millions of dollars spent on erosion control and flood relief. Community relocation is the only feasible solution to permanently protect the inhabitants of these communities. This article describes the steps that federal, state, and tribal governments have taken to relocate Newtok, one of at least twelve indigenous communities in Alaska that need to relocate due to climate change. The policy and practical challenges to relocate the community are enormous and clearly demonstrate that new governance institutions need . Robin Bronen is a human rights attorney and the Director of the Alaska Immigration Justice Project. She has been doing research on the community relocations occurring in Alaska since 2006. She is grateful to the members of the Newtok Planning Group and the Immediate Action Workgroup, a working group of the Alaska Sub-Cabinet on Climate Change, for allowing her to observe their numerous meetings. She also owes a special debt of gratitude to Sally Russell Cox, facilitator of the Newtok Planning Group, and Stanley Tom, tribal administrator of the Newtok Traditional Council, whose working relationship is an inspiration. She thanks Dennis Dixon and her advisors Dr. Terry Chapin, Dr. Gary Kofinas, and Dr. Peter Schweitzer, whose support of her work has been instrumental to the writing of this Article. She also received support from the Alaska Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship, the Global-Local Interactions: Resilience and Adaption of Social-Ecological Systems in a Rapidly Changing North Award #0654441, and the State of Alaska during the time she wrote this paper. 357 4qngdvhlP~tmimiiisimof)Ntild.Nelkevm~ik naws&kyfdiabChifigv

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