Coastal Restoration Trust of New Zealand

Coastal Dune Ecosystem Reference Database

Climate Change and Pacific Rim Indigenous Nations Technical Report

Author
Alan Parker, Zoltán Grossman, Edward Whitesell, Brett Stephenson, Terry Williams, Preston Hardison, Laural Ballew, Brad Burnham, Jill Bushnell, Renée Klosterman
Year
2006
Publisher / Organisation
Northwest Indian Applied Research Institute (NIARI)
Month
October
Pages
79
Keywords
indigenous, native, Pacific Rim, climate change, Arctic, South Pacific
Summary
Indigenous peoples are the “miner’s canary” of global climate change for the rest of humanity. Native nations of the Arctic and Subarctic are already feeling catastrophic effects of warmer temperatures, in the melting of sea ice, permafrost, and glaciers, and increase in fires, insects, flooding and drought patterns. South Pacific Indigenous peoples are finding their islands inundated by rising sea levels, erosion from intense storms, and saltwater intrusion into freshwater supplies.