Indian Law Resources Related to
Environment & Climate Change

Selected Climate Science Reports & Agreements

Climate. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. United Nations.

Paris Agreement on Climate Change. United Nations.

Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet: Scientific Consensus. NASA. Also NASA: Climate Change and Global Warming

Tribal Climate Change Guide. University of Oregon.

U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit: Tribal Nations. NOAA.

Facing the Storm: Indian Tribes, Climate-Induced Weather Extremes, and the Future for Indian Country (pdf). World Wildlife Federation.

Organizations & Programs

Environmental Protection in Indian Country: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Environmental Justice for Tribes and Indigenous Peoples: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Tribal Waste Management Program: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

National Tribal Air Association.

National Tribal Water Council.

Protect Tribal Environmental Resources. Native American Rights Fund.

Indigenous Environmental Network.

Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP). Northern Arizona University.

Land and Natural Resources. National Congress of American Indians (NCAI).

Climate and Traditional Knowledges Workgroup (CTKW). 2014. Guidelines for Considering Traditional Knowledges in Climate Change Initiatives. The Climate and Traditional Knowledges Workgroup – CTKW.

International Indigenous Peoples' Forum on Climate Change. United Nations.

Selected Legal Scholarship

Ahmad, Nadia B. (2016). Trust or bust: Complications with tribal trust obligations and environmental sovereignty. Vermont Law Review, 41(4), 800-851.

II Brewer, Joseph P., Warner, Elizabeth Ann Kronk (2015). Protecting indigenous knowledge in the age of climate change. (pdf) Georgetown International Environmental Law Review, 27, 586-627.

Ford, J.K. (2015). Climate change adaptation in Indian country: Tribal regulation of reservation lands and natural resources William Mitchell Law Review, 41(2), 519-551.

Kan, Pearl (2015). Towards a critical poiesis: climate justice and displacement. Virginia Environmental Law Journal, 33, 24-54.

Kebec, Philomena (2015). REDD+: Climate justice or a new face of manifest destiny? Lessons drawn from the indigenous struggle to resist colonization of Ojibwe forests in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. William Mitchell Law Review, 41(2), 552-568.

Kornfeld, Itzchak E. (2016). The impact of climate change on American and Canadian Indigenous peoples and their water resources. Hebrew University of Jerusalem Legal Research Paper No.17-32.

Lee, Jin Hyng (2017). Improving Native American tribe's voice in international climate change negotiations. American Indian Law Journal, 5(2), 669-694.

Slade, Lynn H., Stern, Walter E. (2011). Environmental regulation on Indian Lands. Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division Magazine, Retrieved from americanbar.org

Sproat, D. Kapua'ala (2016). An Indigenous People's right to environmental self-determination: Native Hawaiians and the struggle against climate change devastation. Stanford Environmental Law Journal, 35(2),158-218.

Warner, Elizabeth Ann Kronk (2015). Everything old is new again: Enforcing tribal treaty provisions to protect climate change-threatened resources. Nebraska Law Review, 97, 916-962.

Warner, Elizabeth Ann Kronk (2015). Indigenous adaptation in the face of climate change. University of Michigan Journal of Environmental and Sustainability Law, 21, 129-168.

Warner, Elizabeth A. Kronk (2017). Returning to the tribal environmental "laboratory": An examination of environmental enforcement techniques in Indian country. Michigan Journal of Environmental and Administration Law, 6(2), 342-391.

Additional Resources Available at the National Indian Law Library

Tribal law relating to environment and climate - short video tutorial

Indian Law Bulletins covering the environment and climate - short video tutorial

Request additional materials from the National Indian Law Library collection - search our catalog for "climate" or "environmental."

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Other Resources...

Go to the Online Catalog. For a broad search, type environment* in any field. For articles and more specific information, type words such as water rights, air pollution, climate change, global warming, etc.