Arctic

Grant Opportunity for Climate Change Adaptation/Resilience Communications in Alaska


Background
The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world -- an astounding 5℃ in the past 100 years. This extreme warming pattern has dangerous consequences for many people in Alaska, including risky travel across melting ice and tundra, and severe coastal erosion that is forcing whole communities to relocate. Indigenous populations are especially vulnerable, since their culture, identity, language, traditional foods, and ways of life all rely heavily on Alaska’s land and waters. As warming proceeds, indigenous communities also must contend with growing in-migration and the expansion of the cash economy that comes from increased industrial and commercial activity. The Climate Justice Resilience Fund (CJRF) seeks to help indigenous communities strengthen their climate resilience by building leadership and decision-making capacity; maintaining, updating and augmenting traditional knowledge; and establishing political advocacy processes. We believe that – in Alaska and elsewhere – the best climate solutions will emerge “bottom-up” from communities, and that respect for human rights should underpin all resilience-building efforts.


As part of CJRF’s grantmaking on climate resilience in Alaska, we have identified communications capacity building as a priority for investment. Consistent and effective communications are a key component to any successful leadership, advocacy, or knowledge-sharing effort, but for climate change advocates, communicating effectively often presents challenges. Many audiences see climate change often as an abstract and distant problem for the future, without day-to-day implications for their lives. The issue also carries both scientific and political “baggage” that complicates messaging and can be a turn-off for some audiences. Moreover, climate solutions – especially adaptation solutions – can be complex and counter-intuitive for those not familiar with how climate change can impact food, water, livelihoods, and infrastructure.


Opportunity
Alaskan advocates have important opportunities – and urgent needs – around climate communications, since the issue is not abstract or distant in the state. With this call for letters of inquiry, CJRF seeks innovative ideas for building climate change communications capacity within Alaska’s non-profit sector. We aim to empower communities by strengthening the ability of non-profit organizations to effectively and strategically communicate about climate change adaptation to a diversity of audiences. We believe that strong climate change communications – about both problems and solution sets – is an essential ingredient for effective adaptation action at community, state, and national levels. Focus will be onAlaska Native organizations and those working on climate adaptation/resilience activities with indigenous communities. Potential outcomes of this call could include (but are not limited to):

  • New organizational strengths in communications, with specific attention to strategy and messaging around climate resilience and adaptation

  • A cohort of young indigenous leaders with strong communications skills and clear narratives around social justice approaches to adaptation and resilience

  • New, more effective climate resilience communications strategies, narratives, or tactics shared among advocacy networks and alliances

  • Improved communications systems for knowledge exchange among communities actively grappling with the impacts of climate change

Applicants may propose activities up to three years in length, with budgets between $100,000 and $400,000. Letters are welcome from individual organizations; CJRF is also interested in supporting collaborative efforts among multiple organizations.


Process
Interested groups should submit a letter of inquiry (LOI) to applications@cjrfund.org by 11:59 pm Alaska time on Thursday April 26. Letters may not exceed three pages. They should summarize the proposed project's objectives, intended outcomes, budget, partners, and any co-funding. Successful applicants will be invited to make a full proposal for a June deadline. This call for communications LOIs is separate from CJRF’s main April 13 call for Arctic LOIs. Submission of a letter to one call for proposals will not disqualify an organization from submitting for the other call.


Please see information about the CJRF and its strategy at www.cjrfund.org. Please note that CJRF aims to fill a funding niche on the adaptation side of climate justice, so we do not support work focused on greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

New Climate Justice grants to support Alaska native communities facing sea level rise

Two new grants to support Alaska Native communities in developing strategies to adapt to climate change were announced today by the Alaska Institute for Justice (AIJ), the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), and the Climate Justice Resilience Fund (CJRF). AIJ received a $752,000 grant from CJRF and a $55,000 grant from UUSC to work with 15 communities along the Alaska coast. The funds will support AIJ’s efforts to develop community-based adaptive strategies that protect the health and well-being of Alaska Native communities experiencing the impacts of climate-induced environmental change. This funding announcement coincides in timing with the last meeting of the Arctic Council during the US Chairmanship, scheduled to occur in Fairbanks, Alaska on May 11.  During the two-year U.S. chairmanship of the Arctic Council, the council prioritized climate change, its impacts on the environment and projects to help Arctic residents respond and adapt.   The funding awarded by CJRF and UUSC will continue this important work.

As the Arctic disproportionately bears the consequences of a rapidly changing climate, Alaska Native communities are facing an urgent need to relocate due to erosion and sea level rise.  CJRF Director, Heather McGray, sees the social justice opportunity to “help indigenous people build a movement, amplify their voices, and build resilience for their communities.” Launched in September 2016 by the Oak Foundation, the CJRF supports people on the “front lines” of climate change to assert their rights and develop community-led climate solutions.  The grant to AIJ represents the CJRF’s first-ever grant in the Arctic region, and its first multi-year grant.  The CJRF is a project of the New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity. The New Venture Fund (NVF) hosts and incubates a wide range of conservation, education, global health, and other charitable projects. 

UUSC recognizes the grave danger that climate change poses for the world’s most vulnerable populations. Their funding promotes environmental justice and protects human rights, with a specific focus on protecting the rights of people that are forcibly displaced by climate change in the South Pacific and in Alaska. Salote Soqo, UUSC’s Senior Program Leader for Environmental Justice & Climate Action emphasizes the urgency of this crisis, “These are indigenous communities and what they are experiencing is directly impinging on their basic human rights and their values as indigenous people. Governments must urgently respond to this crisis to protect the rights and dignities of their communities.” UUSC provides grants to grassroots partner organizations to strategically organize and build the capacities of affected communities to advocate for rights-based solutions and protection. In addition to providing flexible financial support, UUSC contributes various forms of innovative collaboration and technical assistance to our partner organizations.

Robin Bronen, senior research scientist at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and co-founder and executive director of AIJ, stated, “This funding will have a monumental impact on our efforts to help Alaska Native communities as we face one of the biggest humanitarian challenges of the 21stst century.”  With Arctic communities at the forefront of global environmental change, AIJ’s efforts will be critical to the development of long term adaptation strategies for affected communities. “Our groundbreaking research to work with Alaska Native communities and design and implement a community-led relocation process that protects their livelihoods and health may provide a template for other communities faced with this extraordinarily difficult decision.” 

For more information, please contact:  Robin Bronen – 907-441-5917 or Salote Soqo – 617-301-4364