(Seattle—July 23, 2014) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today it is awarding over $888,000 to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to research how climate change has impacted food and water security in remote Arctic Alaska Native villages.
Climate change has affected the Arctic environment where remote Alaska Native villages live and the food and water resources they depend on. Climate change has impacted the permafrost, length of seasons, food webs, movement of species and the movement of pathogens, resulting in impacts to subsistence practices and human health in the region. Rural Alaska Natives are, by virtue of isolated location, culture, and economic status, the most subsistence-dependent population in the United States.
The funds will be used to research bacterial transport from Asia due to warmer seasons; how warmer winters have impacted land and sea mammals; levels of contaminants in Bering Strait animals; and toxins in subsistence shellfish species.
