Page - 440 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

440 M.LandauerandS. Juhola Box18.1Whyiscommunityrelocationsochallenging:ExamplefromKivalina,Alaska KivalinaisavillageintheNorthwestArcticBoroughinAlaska,theUnitedStates.Ithasabout 400 inhabitants (mostly Inupiats) thatarenowbeingforced to relocatedue to risksof rising sea levels and coastal erosion and also impacts of permafrost thawandheavy snowstorms (Gregg2010;WashingtonPost2015;NOAA2017). The village has been planning relocations for 20 years already, detailed in the Kivalina RelocationMaster Plan published in 2006.Despite this, potential relocation options have notbeenconsideredsuitable,due tohighcosts, socialandculturalobjectionsorbecause the sitesunderdiscussionaregeotechnically inappropriate (Gregg2010).Efforts to respond to climate impacts through adaptation have beenmade: such as building a rock revetment to postpone the relocation in2010.Thedecisionon relocation is tobemade in theupcoming decade(NOAA2017).Difficultiesinfinancingrelocationisacommonproblem.InKivalina, relocation has been estimated to cost between 95 and 125millionUS dollars (IAW2009 cited inLynnandDonoghue2011). TheAlaskan ecosystem services-based communities have been able to adapt to changing conditions in the past, but institutional, financial and political barriers have hindered local communities toparticipate indecision-making—examplesof theseare lackinggovernment agency in charge of relocation, and funding allocated to disasters (e.g. for rebuilding) but not for relocation (ADN2016). Forced relocationcan lead tocultural damage, suchas lossof traditional livelihoods (Lynn andDonoghue2011). It ishard toput aprice tocultural loss, but effortshavebeenmade to maintain thecultureandtraditionsofKivalinaresidents,despiterelocation.This isdone, for example,bycreatingprojectsthatenablethecommunitiestosharethoughtsaboutlocalways of life and locate, connect andeducatenewrelocationpartners andnetworkingwithglobal community to shape thediscourseonclimatedisplacement (see:www.relocate-ak.org). Fig.18.3 Riskand IndigenousPeoples inAlaska