The Climate Science Alliance team had the privilege to provide the opportunity to bring 22 people to the 2024 National Tribal and Indigenous Climate Conference (NTICC), hosted by the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals. This conference is a very special event that brings together 600+ Tribal and Indigenous peoples and allies to share knowledge, stories, and build support for each other as we build out climate adaptation and resilience efforts. The event took place on September 9-12, 2024, in Anchorage, Alaska. We thank the Dena’ina people who welcomed us to their beautiful homelands and shared their stories, knowledge, and science with us.
The conference brought together 800+ people from 20 countries, representing 275 Tribes, Villages, and Indigenous communities from across the world along with allies from state, federal, and local jurisdictions, non profit organizations, and universities to discuss this year’s conference theme of “Shared Responsibility for Indigenous Climate Resilience.” It was a week filled with opportunities to share knowledge, build community, and explore how love plays a crucial role in developing climate solutions. With support from the California-Nevada Adaptation Program and Collaborative of Native Nations for Climate Transformation and Stewardship, the Climate Science Alliance were able to not only bring our team, but extend this invitation for professional development, networking, and knowledge exchange to thirteen partners from tribal and indigenous communities from within our network.
The first day of the conference started with setting up our exhibitor booth to showcase our work and getting ready for good conversations and new connections all week long as well as setting up our coloring station. The coloring station featured coloring pages from our new Climate Kids resource on Good Fire; the Climate Science and Fire Traveling Trunk and from the Colors of Conservation coloring book. At the coloring table, conference attendees could take a break and relax while doing some coloring. Climate Science Alliance advisor Melodie Lopez, President of Indigenous Strategies LLC also spent time throughout the conference at the coloring table talking with attendees about the anxieties and emotions that come up around climate change topics.
After setting up, our team spent the first day of the conference enjoying field trips to the magnificent Portage Glacier, a guided tour of the informative Anchorage Museum, and abundant community gardens led by Alaska Community Action on Toxics. At the conference venue, we witnessed testimony of the valuable work of Indigenous knowledge in Alaska and beyond.
On day 2, our partners and team shared their knowledge, ideas, and made new connections at the “Climate Conversations”, a tabling and networking event for conference attendees to learn more about presenting organizations and share resources and activities with one another. We were honored to be joined by good friends and partners from Acjachemen Tongva Land Conservancy, Collaborative of Native Nations for Climate Transformation and Stewardship (CNNCTS), Desert Research Institute, Great Basin Tribal Alliance, La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians, Native Coast Action Network, Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples, Coastal Defenders, Condor Visual Media, and San Diego State University. The Climate Science Alliance team shared about our work and engaged in meaningful conversations around climate adaptation, highlighting the collaborative efforts with the partners listed above as well as the California Nevada Adaptation Program, California Sea Grant, Center for Community Energy and Environmental Justice, Condor Visual Media and their upcoming MAATHAAW documentary, and NASA Sea Level Education, Awareness, and Literacy (SEAL).
On the third day of the conference, Climate Science Alliance Director of Community Resilience Althea Walker joined Alliance partner and advisor Dr. Megan Jennings for Supporting Tribal Drought Resilience session. Walker and Jennings shared about the collaborative research project “Ecological Drought in Southern California: Developing a Framework for Drought Preparedness and Proactive Response”, and how partnerships with NOAA-NIDIS and with institutions such as the Desert Research Institute and Western Regional Climate Center are being uplifted to help build regional understanding of the vulnerabilities of ecological drought on conservation and natural resource management. Our team and partners also attended and moderated sessions that featured incredible speakers sharing about their work, including the Elder, Youth, and Womxn Conversations and the Land Based Learning sessions.
Our biggest contribution to this event was hosting Social Night in collaboration with the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals and the Alaska Native Heritage Center. During this fun event, held at the Alaska Native Heritage center, over 500 attendees celebrated together as we shared a delicious meal catered by Fish on! Camp Grill, cheered on local Native youth as they showcased amazing skills in the Alaska Native Youth Games Demonstration, and explored a diverse array of vendors including Tipey Joa Native Warriors.
On the last day of the conference, we supported Condor Visual Media in presenting a special preview of their Indigenous-led research film documentary “MAATHAAW: The Fire Within Us.” The film documents the cultural, emotional, and scientific relationships of Southern California Tribes with the gift of fire. The preview of the film was presented to an audience of over 40 people and was followed by a panel with Andrew Pittman from Condor Visual Media and two partners featured in the film: La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians Fire Chief Wesley Ruise Jr. and Natural Resource Director Joelene Tamm.
Our deepest gratitude to the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals and the amazing team for hosting the Conference and inviting us to join them in supporting the event. We are consistently inspired by ITEP’s vision, leadership, and love for their communities.
We thank the speakers, presenters, and knowledge holders for your teachings and for sharing so much of your hearts with us. To each participant who spent time with us—over shared meals, between laughter, at the coloring table, in conference rooms, on early walks around town, and everywhere in between—we are so grateful, and look forward to our continued friendships and new partnerships.
Special thank you to the California-Nevada Adaptation Program and to the Collaborative of Native Nations for Climate Transformation and Stewardship for making it possible for our team and partners to participate, learn, share, and create new connections that will be upheld for years to come.