A series of turquoise signs along southbound U.S. 89 near Tuba City proclaims the Navajo Nation’s resiliency amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Three Arizona tribal nations can better prepare for severe climate-related environmental threats to their homelands after receiving nearly $750,000 from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The San Carlos Apache Tribe, Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, and Navajo Nation can now develop climate change adaptation plans to protect cultural sites and address issues like drought. The Navajo Nation will designate its funding to the Teesto Chapter located in Winslow to engage the community, assess climate vulnerabilities, and prioritize adaptation actions.
The Zuni Tribe, which spans New Mexico and parts of Arizona, will also receive $250,000 to protect and restore riparian wetlands along the Little Colorado River—lands considered sacred to the tribe.
“Indigenous communities face unique and intensifying climate-related challenges that pose an existential threat to Tribal economies, infrastructure, lives, and livelihoods,” U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a press release.
The funding comes from the bureau’s annual tribal community resilience program. This year’s allocation marks the largest annual funding awarded to tribes in the history of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Tribal Climate Resilience Annual Awards Program is meant to support tribes and their efforts to create projects that will help protect their homelands from evolving climate threats.
By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.