In 2021, the Climate Science Alliance and the Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (SWCASC) co-hosted the Southwest Adaptation Forum (SWAF), which included an engaging training experience for climate practitioners interested in fostering meaningful engagement with Tribal communities. 

Together, we strive to facilitate regular conversations on how we can cultivate meaningful and authentic collaborations with Indigenous communities and improve equity and inclusion for our staff, our projects, and within our network. Our work is successful when we are able to lift others’ voices up, make sure that climate conversations are accessible and relatable, and ensure that Indigenous ways of knowing are at the forefront of climate adaptation work.

Adapted from the 2021 SWAF Attendee Workbook, each section of this resource guide provides important information, key resources, and listed actions to take prior to reaching out to build new relationships with Tribal communities.

By sharing resources from this important discussion, our hope is that others will do their due diligence in expanding their understanding and moving their work forward in a good way where all people are valued for who they are and what knowledge they hold.

Resource Menu

Understand different aspects of sovereignty, including political Tribal sovereignty, Indigenous data sovereignty, and the rights of nature.

• There are currently 574 federally recognized Tribes

• “Indian reservations are lands reserved in treaties, by executive order, or congressional acts. They are not gifts from the federal government to Tribes; they are products of massive land cessions by Tribes that created the United States” - Dina Gilio-Whitaker

• On March 3, 1819, the Civilization Fund Act ushered in an era of assimilationist policies, leading to the Indian boarding-school era, which lasted from 1860 to 1978. Thousands of Native American children were forced to attend boarding schools created to strip them of their culture.

• On May 9, 2019, the Yurok Tribal Council passed a resolution declaring the rights of the Klamath River and provided a legal avenue for the Klamath River to have its rights adjudicated in Yurok Tribal Court

Identify who’s homelands you reside and work on.

Upon acknowledging who’s land you're on, take the time to learn about the people and communities that are still alive and present.

Identify treaties and court cases related to local Tribes to learn more about how their sovereignty came to be.

Offer equal authorship to your Tribal partners on the publication that are created from the project experience.

Tribal governments are sovereign nations and community leaders should be afforded the same respect and regard as you would give to the leaders of any country.

Understand the importance of active listening when engaging with Tribal communities.

• Each Tribal nation has different discourse styles, including length of response time, traditional protocols to follow and vocabulary.

• Incentives and gift-giving are considered common practice to express appreciation for the exchange of time. This is often demonstrated in bringing food / having parking passes for meetings, and ensuring the comfort of guests and the space that you have invited them to.

In your meetings and interactions, observe how others “listen”. Write down what you can learn from their listening skills.

List a few ways of how you might demonstrate active listening.

When you wish to ask a question or add to the conversation, consider counting slowly to 10.  Consider if a response is needed at all.

List a few things that we accomplish as a whole when we listen.

Understand the importance of centering reciprocity while establishing and maintaining partnerships with Tribes.

• Members of the Havasupai Tribe in Arizona gave blood samples in 1989 for research on type 2 diabetes, only to find out later that the researchers had used the DNA samples for studies on schizophrenia, ethnic migration and population inbreeding without the individuals’ approval.

• The Onondaga Nation Land Claim case is remarkable because the suit asks only for a declaratory judgment that the land was illegally taken from the Nation and that the Nation continues to have legal title to the land. The lawsuit is not a land “claim,” because to the Onondaga, the land has far greater significance than the notion of property. The Nation is primarily interested in demanding the restoration of the land from the destruction of SuperFund sites in the area around Syracuse, especially Onondaga Lake, a sacred site.

Recognize that communities maintain data sovereignty

Ensure there is Native Nation hiring preferences in your program, from internships to evaluators.

Support community events such as Earth Day to become a familiar face and to find opportunities to build relationships.

Consider reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, in which she describes the awakening of acknowledging and celebrating our reciprocal relationship with one another and the rest of the living world.