Here:
Earthjustice article detailing the issue and the brief here.
climate change
Climate Rights Activists Petition to Inter-American Court for Human Rights
NARF’s Work in Alaska Over 40 Years
The Native American Rights Fund has provided legal assistance to Tribes in Alaska since NARF’s founding in the early 1970s. In 1984, NARF opened an Alaska office so it could better serve Alaska Native Tribes and individuals. In the 40 years since NARF Alaska opened its doors, the office has litigated some of the most influential cases in the development of federal Indian law in Alaska. Below is an overview of the foundational work that NARF has done with and on behalf of Alaska Native Tribal governments and people.
Washington Federal Court Remands Tribal Climate Change Claims to State Court
Here are the materials in the consolidated cases, Makah Indian Tribe v. Exxon Mobile Corp. (W.D. Wash.) and Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe v. Exxon Mobile Corp. (W.D. Wash.):
Camacho, Kronk Warner, McLachlan & Kroeze on Conservation Governance, Climate Change, and Indian Country
Alejandro E. Camacho, Elizabeth Kronk Warner, Jason McLachlan & Nathan Kroeze have published “Adapting Conservation Governance Under Climate Change: Lessons from Indian Country” in the Virginia Law Review. PDF
Here is the abstract:
Anthropogenic climate change is increasingly causing disruptions to ecological communities upon which Natives have relied for millennia. These disruptions raise existential threats not only to ecosystems but to Native communities. Yet no analysis has carefully explored how climate change is affecting the governance of tribal ecological lands. This Article, by examining the current legal adaptive capacity to manage the effects of ecological change on tribal lands, closes this scholarly and policy gap.
This Article first considers interventions to date, finding them to be lacking in even assessing—let alone addressing—climate risks to tribal ecosystem governance. It then carefully explores how climate change raises distinctive risks and advantages to tribal governance as compared to federal and state approaches. Relying in part on a review of publicly available tribal plans, this Article details how tribal adaptation planning to date has fared.
Focusing on climate change and ecological adaptation, this Article delves into the substantive, procedural, and structural aspects of tribal governance. Substantively, tribal governance often tends to be considerably less wedded to conservation goals and strategies that rely on “natural” preservation, and many tribes focus less on maximizing yield in favor of more flexible objectives that may be more congruent with adaptation. Procedurally, like other authorities, many tribal governments could better integrate adaptive management and meaningful public participation into adaptation processes, yet some tribes serve as exemplars for doing so (as well as for integrating traditional ecological knowledge with Western science). Structurally, tribal ecological land governance should not only continue to tap the advantages of decentralized tribal authority but also complement it through more robust (1) federal roles in funding and information dissemination and (2) intergovernmental coordination, assuming other governments will respect tribal sovereignty. This Article concludes by identifying areas where tribal management practices might serve as valuable exemplars for adaptation governance more generally, as well as areas in which additional work would be helpful.
Montana SCT Affirms State Law Right to “Stable Climate System”
New Scholarship on the Inflation Adjustment Act’s Impact on Indian Country Energy Justice
John Beaty has published “The Impact of the Inflation Reduction Act on Energy Justice and Green Energy Development in Indian Country” in the LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources. PDF
Here is the abstract:
In the past two decades, many American Indian Tribes have been experimenting with generating power from renewable sources on reservations. The growth of tribal green energy is a positive step towards energy justice, but current projects are hampered by insufficient funding, jurisdictional confusion, lack of needed infrastructure, and a baroque permitting process that leaves necessary projects languishing. The recent omnibus spending bill, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was trumped by Congress as the largest investment into tribal green energy ever. This Article critically analyzes the impact of the IRA on tribal energy. While the IRA represents a necessary move towards a more effective funding structure for tribal energy projects, it failed to address other barriers to tribal green energy development. The Article concludes by proposing steps Congress, States, and Tribes can take to improve upon the IRA.
Tribal Nations Amicus Brief in Montana Environmental Case
New Scholarship on Conservation and Climate Change in Indian Country
Alejandro E. Camacho, Elizabeth Ann Kronk Warner, Jason McLachlan, and Nathan Kroeze have posted “Adapting Conservation Governance Under Climate Change: Lessons from Indian Country,” forthcoming in the Virginia Law Review, on SSRN.
Here is the abstract:
Anthropogenic climate change is increasingly causing disruptions to ecological communities upon which Natives have relied for millennia, raising existential threats not only to ecosystems but to Native communities. Yet no analysis has carefully explored how climate change is affecting the governance of tribal ecological lands. This Article closes this scholarly and policy gap, examining the current legal adaptive capacity to manage the effects of ecological change on tribal lands.
The Article first considers interventions to date, finding them to be lacking in even assessing—let alone addressing—climate risks to tribal ecosystem governance. It then carefully explores how climate change raises distinctive risks and advantages to tribal governance as compared to federal and state approaches. Relying in part on the review of publicly available tribal plans, the paper details how tribal adaptation planning to date has fared.
In particular, the Article delves into the substantive, procedural, and structural aspects of tribal governance, focusing on climate change and ecological adaptation. Substantively, tribal governance often tends to be considerably less wedded to conservation goals and strategies that rely on “natural” preservation, and many tribes focus less on maximizing yield in favor of more flexible objectives that may be more congruent with adaptation. Procedurally, like other authorities, many tribal governments could better integrate adaptive management and meaningful public participation into adaptation processes, yet some tribes serve as exemplars for doing so (as well as for integrating traditional ecological knowledge with Western science). Structurally, tribal ecological land governance should continue to tap the advantages of decentralized tribal authority but complementing it through more robust (1) federal roles in funding and information dissemination, and (2) intergovernmental coordination, assuming other governments will respect tribal sovereignty. The Article concludes by identifying areas in which tribal management might serve as valuable exemplars for adaptation governance more generally, as well as areas for which additional work would be helpful.
Rob Williams NYTs Essay on Kicking Indians Off Their Land [updated with accessible PDF]
Robert Williams has published “Kicking Native People Off Their Land Is a Horrible Way to Save the Planet” in the New York Times.
PDF here:
opinion-_-kicking-native-people-off-their-land-is-a-horrible-way-to-save-the-planet-the-new-york-tDownload
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