Climate change in America's national parks

Overview

In 2010, the Pacific Island Climate Change Cooperative (PICCC) sought a framework that would support Pacific Island managers in adapting cultural resources to climate change. To begin this work, Dr. Cheryl Anderson and her colleagues focused on case studies in two national parks, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park, which cover an array of cultural and natural resources that provide opportunities to look at marine, coastal, and terrestrial climate impacts. By using experiences working with communities in the Pacific Islands for over twenty years, Dr. Anderson and her colleagues have begun to develop a process that identifies the expertise and information needed to consider management and adaptation options for cultural resources impacted by climate change. The process considers various cultural perspectives from communities and NPS staff, and moves toward considering approaches to help inform and prioritize actions, interventions, and responses as we manage cultural resources into the future.

About the Speaker

Dr. Cheryl L. Anderson, PhD, is Director of the Hazards, Climate, and Environment Program at the University of Hawai‘i Social Science Research Institute and a certified urban/regional planner (AICP). For the last nineteen years, she has conducted research and planning projects on climate and disaster risk management in the Pacific, with attention to gender, traditional ecological knowledge, and socioeconomic aspects of risk reduction and resilience. She is the primary author of Hawai'i State’s Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan, which required implementation of risk and vulnerability assessments as basis for plan development, and has implemented drought mitigation projects in the Pacific Islands. Dr. Anderson recently conducted a socioeconomic drought risk assessment for Hawai'i; developed a guideline for socioeconomic assessments of adaptation projects in the Pacific (SEA-PACC); and facilitated the 2008 Pacific Forum publication on disaster risk reduction, adaptation, traditional knowledge, and gender. She serves on the boards and advisory committees of Pacific regional and Hawai'i State collaborations on climate change and disaster risk reduction, the Gender Disaster Network, and the Global Gender and Climate Alliance. As a Peace Corps Volunteer and then hazard mitigation planner in Yap, Federated States of Micronesia, Dr. Anderson has experience living and working in small island environments.