ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the steps that federal, state and tribal governments have taken to relocate Newtok, an Alaskan indigenous community, one of at least twelve communities that need to be relocated in Alaska due to climate change. It also examines the human rights issues involved with climate-induced planned relocations. Climate change is most often associated with temperature changes in the earth's atmosphere. The combination of repeated extreme weather events, ongoing and accelerating rates of environmental change, such as erosion, and the loss of protective coastal barriers is forcing coastal communities to relocate as a long-term adaptation strategy. With no designated relocation funding, each government agency must follow its own budgetary and funding prioritisation criteria to allocate funding for Newtok's relocation effort. Newtok's tribal government and the work of the Newtok Planning Group provide a model for other communities facing relocation as a consequence of climate change.
