Colorado, US: New report summarizes climate considerations on Navajo Nation lands

A new report led by the University of Colorado Boulder, “Considerations for Climate Change and Variability Adaptation on the Navajo Nation,” synthesizes state-of-the-science information on the region’s climate, water cycle and ecology. And it goes much further, discussing social, legal, economic, infrastructural and other factors that affect people’s vulnerabilities to climate impacts as well as their adaptive capacity, and outlining one approach for how the region’s residents might plan for ongoing environmental change.

“It’s not only that the Navajo Nation is facing serious climate challenges,” said report lead author Julie Nania with the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment at CU-Boulder. “It’s also that in some cases, they may be vulnerable to climate-related impacts, for example, because many people run livestock.

“On the other hand, they may be particularly well-poised to take leadership on adaptation planning, because they have the sovereign authority to address some of these issues very effectively,” she said