Tribal Engagement Strategy
SW CASC Engagement
The Southwest region is home to a number of distinct landscapes ranging from the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts, the California Coast, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Colorado Plateau, the Southern Rockies, the Great Basin, and the Madrean Sky Islands. Along with a number of diverse ecosystems, the Southwest region is also home to a diversity of Indigenous peoples and communities. With respect to Indigenous peoples’ practices and their relationships to the natural world, the Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (SW CASC) is committed to ensuring that the 4 R’s - Respect, Relationship, Responsibility, and Reciprocity are centered in all of our Tribal engagement efforts. Understanding how climate change impacts Indigenous peoples’ ways of life also gives us the ability to continue to support resilience through adaptive measures, actions, and strategies for solutions. The SW CASC Tribal Engagement Strategy report provides a vision for tribal engagement in the SW CASC region, which covers California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona.
The SW CASC seeks to partner with tribal communities in the Southwest to share knowledge and co-develop approaches for effective climate adaptation. The SW CASC has placed the Tribal Engagement Strategy at the center of its strategic planning process.
Cynthia Naha and Anissa McKenna work for the Southwest CASC and American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) as Tribal Climate Resilience Liaisons. They work across the SW CASC region of California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona to connect 159 Federally Recognized Tribal Nations to tools, information, and other climate resilience resources. Contact Cynthia at cnaha@aihec.org and Anissa at amckenna@aihec.org.