Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Clifton T. Cottrell, University of Maryland

As demonstrated in the recent Fourth National Climate Assessment, the indigenous peoples of the United States are already feeling the disproportionate effects of climate change, threatening food security and cultural practices throughout tribal lands. In the face of rising seas, increasing intensity of weather events like hurricanes, heavy rains, and drought, and climbing temperatures, many tribal communities struggle to ensure members have enough to eat, while also preserving the food sources that have sustained these groups for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. To help understand the impacts on food security in vulnerable communities, scientists are now adapting methodological approaches that integrate the analysis of multiple resource systems related to food harvesting. The food-energy-water (FEW) nexus is one such attempt at understanding the synergies and tradeoffs inherent in manipulating water and energy systems in the harvesting and production of food.

I seek to answer the question- what are the main climate change factors threatening food security for Native Americans, and how can tribes apply the FEW nexus model to build more climate resilient communities?

My research implements the United Nations’ comprehensive framework on the nexus of FEW systems to indigenous groups combating food security concerns brought about by climate change. I make a qualitative comparison of climate action plans for 3 tribal communities, the Navajo Nation, the tribes of the 1854 Treaty Authority, and the Inupiat Eskimo Village of Kivalina, AK, to the UN FEW Nexus framework. I find that while tribes are already contemplating how climate change affects local FEW systems, the use of a more comprehensive analytical framework, like the UN model, could improve climate planning and food outcomes by exploiting harmonies inherent in FEW systems. Extending the framework beyond agricultural applications by integrating hunter/gatherer food harvest methods could expand the model’s useability and provide non-agricultural indigenous communities a structure for managing complex, integrated resource systems.