When I started at Woodwell Climate, I had very little personal or professional experience with boreal wildfire. I was a forest ecologist drawn to this space by the urgency of the climate crisis and the understanding that northern ecosystems are some of the most threatened and critical to protect from a global perspective. More severe and frequent wildfires from extreme warming are burning deeper into the soil, releasing ancient carbon and accelerating permafrost thaw. Still largely unaccounted for in global climate models, these carbon emissions from wildfire and wildfire-induced permafrost thaw could eat up as much as 10% of the remaining global carbon budget. More boreal wildfire means greater impacts of climate change, which means more boreal wildfire. But when I joined the boreal fire management team at Woodwell, the global picture was the extent of my perspective.

This past June, under a haze of wildfire smoke with visible fires burning across the landscape, Woodwell Climate’s fire management team made our way back to Fort Yukon, Alaska. Situated in Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge at the confluence of the Yukon and Porcupine Rivers, this region is home to Gwich’in Athabascan people who have been living and stewarding fire on these lands for millennia. Our time there was brief, but it was enough to leave us humbled by the reality that the heart of the wildfire story—both the impacts and the solutions—lie in communities like Fort Yukon. 

We listened to community members and elders tell stories about fire, water, plants, and animals, all of which centered around observations of profound change over the past generation. As we shared fire history maps at the Gwichyaa Zhee Giwch’in tribal government office, we were gently reminded that their knowledge of changing wildfire patterns long preceded scientists like us bringing western data to their village. We learned that fire’s impact on critical ecosystems also affects culture, economic stability, subsistence, and traditional ways of life. Increasing smoke exposure threatens the health of community members, particularly elders, and makes the subsistence lifestyle harder and more dangerous. A spin on the phrase “wildland urban interface,” Woodwell’s Senior Arctic Lead Edward Alexander coined the phrase “wildland cultural interface,” which brilliantly captures the reality that these fire-prone landscapes, culture, and community are intertwined in tangible and emotional ways for the Gwich’in people.

“There’s too much fire now” was a common phrase we heard from people in Fort Yukon. Jimmy Fox, the former Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge (YFNWR) manager had been hearing this from community members for a long time, along with deep concerns about the loss of “yedoma” permafrost, a type of vulnerable permafrost with high ice and carbon content widespread throughout the Yukon Flats. With the idea originating from a sharing circle with Gwich’in Council International, in 2023 Jimmy enacted a pilot project to enhance the fire suppression policy of 1.6 million acres of yedoma land on the Yukon Flats to explicitly protect carbon and climate, the first of its kind in fire management policy. He was motivated by both the massive amount of carbon at risk of being emitted by wildfire and the increasing threats to this “wildland cultural interface” for communities on the Yukon Flats. 

Ever since I met Jimmy, I have been impressed by his determination to use his agency to enact powerful climate solutions. Jimmy was also inspired by a presentation from my postdoctoral predecessor, Dr. Carly Phillips, who spoke to the fire management community about her research showing that fire suppression could be a cost-efficient way to keep these massive, ancient stores of carbon in the ground. Our current research is now focused on expanding this analysis to explicitly quantify the carbon that would be saved by targeted, early-action fire suppression strategies on yedoma permafrost landscapes. This pilot project continues to show the fire management community that boreal fire suppression, if done with intention and proper input from local communities, can be a climate solution that meets the urgency of this moment.

“Suppression” can be a contentious word in fire management spaces. Over-suppression has led to fuel build up and increased flammability in the lower 48. But these northern boreal forests in Alaska and Canada are different. These forests do not have the same history of over-suppression, and current research suggests that the impacts of climate change are the overwhelming driver of increased fire frequency and severity. That said, fire is still a natural and important process for boreal forests. The goal with using fire suppression as a climate solution is never to eliminate fire from the landscape, but rather bring fires back to historical or pre-climate change levels. And perhaps most importantly, suppression is only one piece of the solution. The ultimate vision is for a diverse set of fire management strategies, with a particular focus on the revitalization of Indigenous fire stewardship and cultural burning, to cultivate a healthier relationship between fire and the landscape.

The boreal wildfire problem is dire from the global to local level. But as I have participated in socializing this work to scientists, managers, and community leaders over the past year, from Fort Yukon, Alaska to Capitol Hill, I see growing enthusiasm for solutions that is not as widely publicized as the crisis itself. I see a vision of Woodwell Climate contributing to a transformation in boreal fire management that has already begun in Indigenous communities, one that integrates Indigenous knowledge and community-centered values with rigorous science, and ends with real reductions in global carbon emissions. Let’s begin.

Last month in Dakar, Senegal, Woodwell Climate Associate Scientist Glenn Bush and Forests & Climate Change Coordinator Joseph Zambo facilitated a high-level workshop with the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Director of Climate Change, Aimé Mbuyi, lead scientist on the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) reporting process, Prof. Onesphore Mutshaili, and project consultant Melaine Kermarc. The goal of the workshop was to begin generating a clear set of priorities for the next 5 years for stepping up the ambition of the country’s NDCs, and to discuss strategies for monitoring and reporting on emissions.

Under the Paris Agreement, each country is required to submit to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change a detailed description of their emissions reduction commitments and then regular reports on progress. Currently, DRC has pledged to reduce emissions by 21% by 2030, focusing on reform in their energy, agriculture, forestry, and other land use sectors. While NDCs are intended to represent a country’s highest possible ambition, DRC is looking to step up further. Officials are at work developing a plan to reach net-zero emissions, which would place the country among the leaders of climate policy in Africa.

In order to do this, DRC needs a reliable framework for measuring and monitoring emissions, so that progress can be accurately reported on. At the workshop, Bush, Mbuyi, Zambo, Kermarc  and Mutshaili discussed ways to strengthen the NDC reporting process. Among the top needs identified was stronger institutional scientific capacity, increased coordination and data sharing, and more funding and awareness of the process at local and provincial levels.

“High quality data is essential to building a high integrity NDC,” says Bush. “Improving the scope and quality of data available to monitor carbon will not only help the country meet the highest tier of reporting standards, but also access performance-based payment mechanisms to help finance the transition to a low emissions economy.” 

Through their conversations about challenges and opportunities, the group identified three areas for intervention that will help the country navigate towards a stronger emissions reduction plan. These recommendations were outlined in a report on the workshop proceedings.

  1. Improved governance and policy management: Establishing a National Climate Change Council to better integrate climate policy into national development plans.
  2. Science-backed carbon accounting and budgeting: Developing credible data standards for measuring emissions and ecosystem services to support transparent and effective reporting on climate performance. 
  3. Cross-sectoral integration: Promoting emissions reductions across all sectors through collaborative partnerships, particularly in the field of climate-smart agriculture and carbon payment mechanisms. 

Mr Aimé Mbuyi, Head of the Climate Change Division (CCD) at the DRC’s Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development, declared that “these recommendations reflect an important set of practical steps to move from aspiration to operational reality in order to increase the financing and impact to conserve our forests and stimulate sustainable development in the DRC”.

Woodwell Climate Research Center has been a long time partner of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. The Center is assisting the ministry in laying the technical foundations to support the NDC improvement process and helping build in-country scientific capacity to make a net-zero emissions plan a reality. This and other partnerships will be essential in transitioning the DRC to a low-carbon economy.

“We appreciated the long-standing trust that has developed over years of formal and informal collaboration on climate policy,” said Mbuyi. “The scientific partnership with Woodwell is invaluable to us at CCD, providing actionable information that has proven essential to advancing the climate mitigation and adaptation agenda.”

While the annual climate Conference of Parties (COP) each fall is the largest and most visible event of the global climate effort, international climate action happens all year long. Each June, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) holds a preparatory conference in Bonn, Germany. These summer climate meetings, often referred to in shorthand as “Bonn,” bring together up to 7000 delegates for the nitty gritty work of international cooperation.

At Bonn, government delegations negotiate the full range of issues surrounding global climate collaboration, scientific organizations present their latest findings, civil society groups advocate for climate action, and diverse coalitions showcase their efforts. The June meetings lay the groundwork for decisionmaking and collaboration at the upcoming COP, and often give a clear indication of the challenges to come in the fall negotiations. This year, from June 16 to 26, conversations at Bonn spanned topics including the development of indicators for global resilience, clarifying how the world should pursue the global energy and forestry related targets agreed on at COP 28, mobilizing climate finance, increasing countries’ ambition for emissions reduction, and ensuring a just global transition away from fossil fuels. 

This year’s summer meetings proved a tough one for governments attempting to move forward on nearly every issue, though delegates did manage to achieve clarity on the decisionmaking agenda for the upcoming COP30, to be held in Belém, Brazil in November. In the science realm, the UNFCCC launched a systematic mapping of what research needs are currently being met by the scientific community and where there are still gaps in actionable information. 

Beyond the intergovernmental negotiations the conference included a wide range of events and activities by observer organizations. A Woodwell Climate delegation was in attendance again this year, taking part in some of the key activities of the conference. Here are 3 highlights from The Center’s engagement at this year’s June climate meetings.

On top of substantive agenda items, participants tried to grapple with the logistical issues arising around the conference in Belém, with affordability and accessibility being particularly acute concerns for non-governmental organizations and Global South participants. Despite the questions remaining on this front, the outcomes from this June’s climate meetings have built the foundations for a pivotal COP30 agenda— at a time when ambitious climate action couldn’t be more important.

As the Arctic heats up three to four times faster than the rest of Earth, hotter temperatures have super-charged northern fires, causing them to burn more area, more frequently, and more intensely. 

These fires have a range of harmful impacts on communities, ecosystems, and wildlife in the north. When it comes to carbon, they represent a unique now-and-future threat to global climate. That’s because much of the boreal forest, which circles the high northern latitudes, is underlain by carbon-rich frozen ground called permafrost. Stocked with carbon from dead animal and plant matter that’s accumulated over hundreds to thousands of years, permafrost functions as Earth’s “deep freezer,” keeping the planet cool by keeping carbon out of the atmosphere. 

When permafrost thaws, microbes begin to access and break down the once-frozen carbon, releasing it to the atmosphere where it contributes to warming. Wildfires accelerate this process by burning off the organic soil layer that protects permafrost— opening the door on the freezer. And as temperatures in the north rise and boreal forests dry out and experience greater climate stress, the fires these forests evolved with have become more frequent and severe, with consequences for both permafrost and our climate.

Why are boreal forests important to climate?

The boreal forest, the largest forested biome on Earth, covers large stretches of North America, Europe, and Russia and stores 25% of the planet’s terrestrial carbon. Roughly 80% of this carbon is stored belowground in the form of soil organic matter and permafrost. So when the forest burns, the carbon released from the trees is just the tip of the iceberg. Eighty percent or more of carbon emissions from boreal fires in North America and in central Siberia come from belowground combustion of soil organic matter.

Boreal forests have been reliable safekeepers of this belowground carbon historically by providing an insulating soil organic layer that protects permafrost. But increasingly severe fires are changing that picture.

What happens to permafrost when the boreal burns?

Wildfires threaten this belowground carbon in boreal forests in multiple ways, both during and long after the fire itself. 

As a fire burns, it combusts the carbon stored in trees and plants, releasing it into the atmosphere along with smoke and harmful pollutants. Intense fires also burn through duff and soil layers that carpet the forest floor. 

Burning these insulating layers exposes the permafrost below to warmer temperatures for years after a fire. A recent synthesis study led by Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. Anna Talucci of Woodwell Climate found that in burned sites across the boreal and tundra regions, the depth of seasonally thawed ground increased for two decades after a fire. 

That means that long after a fire is extinguished, permafrost is still thawing and releasing carbon in the form of carbon dioxide and methane. Where this ground is rich in ice, it can sink and collapse after a fire, causing ponding, erosion, and creating bogs and wetlands that release methane.

All of this carbon released to the atmosphere contributes to further warming, which in turn contributes to drying forests, hotter temperatures, and more lightning ignitions in the boreal forests. That’s because warming has boosted both lightning ignition efficiency, or the likelihood that lightning starts a fire, and the number of lightning strikes in the region. 

Average yearly burned area across Alaska and Canada has roughly doubled since the 1960s. Emissions from Canada’s 2023 fire season exceeded total fossil fuel emissions from every other nation except the U.S., China, and India for that year. And the frequency of extreme wildfires across the circumpolar boreal region increased seven-fold from 2003 to 2023. 

These trends, amplified by the permafrost-fire feedback, worsen both Arctic impacts and global emissions and could hamper our ability to meet agreed-on climate goals.

Gaps in boreal fire research

Wildfires in boreal forests are already weakening the region’s carbon storage capacity, signalling a crucial shift in the global climate system. Addressing critical gaps in our understanding of the fire-permafrost feedback will help prepare for such shifts and their local and global implications.

Research teams including Permafrost Pathways and collaborators are refining tools to predict what increasing fires mean for regional and global carbon emissions and climate targets. Such insights are needed to inform the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) inventory of global emissions, which does not yet include fire emissions or fire-caused permafrost thaw emissions. Efforts to better model and predict the complex interactions between permafrost and fire are also critical to informing adaptation and management responses.

The region’s vastness, as well as geopolitical conditions, presents challenges to collecting field data. Here, modeling can help scale the insights from what field data is available. And developing more accurate fire maps in Alaska and Siberia, where less burned area satellite data exists, could equip researchers and communities with better near-real-time information. Long-term monitoring efforts that study pre- and post-fire conditions, such as those led by Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation at the Scotty Creek Research Station, are providing critical insights about fire’s acute and long-term effects on permafrost.

What we can do: solutions that support resilience

The impacts from widespread severe northern wildfires transcend boundaries, affecting health and ways of life for communities living in the Arctic and around the globe.

But there are solutions at hand. Cultural burning, an important practice for many Arctic Indigenous communities, can help boreal forests build resilience by removing fuels with low-intensity seasonal fire. And collaborative management approaches that suppress fires in permafrost regions have been shown to be a cost-effective climate mitigation tool that has co-benefits for human health and the global climate.

But the most important solution to help keep the global wildfire-permafrost feedback loop in check is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Lowering overall emissions will slow rising temperatures in the north and give communities, boreal forests, and other ecosystems a better chance to recover and to adapt.

Climate change is a massive problem, with far-reaching effects that touch every aspect of society. It’s also already here. The impacts long forecast by scientists—heat waves, droughts, encroaching sea levels, thawing Arctic ground, frequent storms, and wildfires—are being felt now by communities from Alaska to the Amazon. But these communities, throughout the hardships being thrown their way, are learning to adapt. While national and international climate efforts take small steps, towns and cities are striding forward, building resilience through community engagement, urban planning, and advocacy.

What resilience looks like is different in every community. It is defined by each place’s unique challenges and ways of life. It requires creativity, trial and error, and unwavering persistence. These five community leaders share lessons learned from lives spent anticipating oncoming obstacles, finding and inventing solutions to each new challenge, and cultivating resilience in the face of climate change.

Resilience is… Proactive planning and learning from others.

Dale Morris

Former Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Charleston, SC and Climate Adaptation Consultant.

Charleston is a coastal city that floods on average 70 days in the year. When Woodwell Climate reached out to offer a free climate risk analysis as part of the Just Access project, Charleston was in the midst of their own comprehensive water plan. Morris recognized the need for expanded risk modeling for the wider County of Charleston, which encompasses three of the four largest cities in South Carolina, and whose upstream flooding risks were less understood but already impacting downstream communities. He facilitated the project, which modeled flood risks out to 2080.

“In the City of Charleston we weren’t at all surprised, but when we shared the results with the other cities, everyone was like ‘whoa, this is worse than we thought.’ Floodplain inundation from rainfall was a big part of it. And when you factor in sea level rise at the outfall of creeks and rivers, there’s less drainage capacity. Where does the water go?”

For Morris, understanding risk is a crucial first step towards building a resilient community. The next is putting that knowledge to use. In Charleston, city and county officials have used the Woodwell report to apply for grant funding to further improve stormwater management.

Though the risks can sometimes seem daunting, Morris says learnings from other communities, even those many thousands of miles away, can offer inspiration and guidance. Earlier in his career, Morris managed outreach for the Dutch government in the United States, helping apply learnings from the Netherlands to community flood programs.

“The Dutch, by necessity, have to know how to live well with water, with the use of different approaches—hard engineering, soft engineering, good spatial planning.” 

Morris was at the Dutch Embassy when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. Seeing the devastation there affirmed his belief that planning and governance also play a huge role in how well a community can recover from a disaster.

“I saw very clearly this was a failure of government and governance at all levels. The economic disruption, the family disruption, the devastation across wide swaths of New Orleans and along the Mississippi coast, it made me mad, and it motivated me to do more.”

“More” means more planning, more foresight, tackling future risks before they happen, and pursuing projects that produce multiple benefits.

“These are generational kinds of recoveries. We should think about proactive investments, not reactive responses.”

A resilient Charleston looks like: Clear future flood risk assessment, adaptive management plans for residents in flood zones, smart new development that can receive moving residents, city infrastructure planning that adapts to changing future conditions

Resilience is….Changing mindsets and changing economies.

Ben Robinson

Martha’s Vineyard Commission member and founder of the MVC Climate Action Task Force.

The island of Martha’s Vineyard can be a place of strong contradictions. Transient vacation-goers share the beaches with life-long residents. Multimillion dollar homes are being constructed while local workers struggle to find affordable housing. Rural fields border suburban neighborhoods which, in turn, border both forests and salt marshes. 

These complex dynamics are what Robinson grapples with as he leads the island’s climate adaptation planning efforts. As a member of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, he aided the creation of a climate action plan to identify areas of work across sectors, from food security to transportation. Woodwell Climate worked with the Commission to produce an assessment of the Vineyard’s drought, precipitation, and wildfire risks, as well as a study of existing carbon stores on the Island.

According to Robinson, the Vineyard faces not only increasing climate risks but also challenges in creating the needed social changes for adaptation.

“The social change piece is the one that’s really been the most frustrating, because it entails sacrifice. It entails recognizing the privileges that we’ve had and we still have and taking on a global responsibility.”

One of the trickiest areas to tackle has been the island’s main economic driver: tourism. Summer months are extremely popular with wealthy tourists, and much of the island’s infrastructure is built to serve this influx of temporary residents.

“The Vineyard is really catering more and more every year to a wealthier and wealthier constituency. And they demand more services, more things, a different feel. And that level of over-consumption is one of the primary drivers of climate change.” 

It has also made life harder for ordinary residents, driving up property values to an untenable degree, forcing much of the labor force to live off-island and commute. 

“Those are really poor trends for a community that wants to be resilient.”

Additionally, reliance on imports undermines food security for residents. Currently, close to 95% of food has to be imported from the mainland.

“Right now there’s no way we would survive without the supply chain to the island, which has just become more and more intertwined with our everyday lives.”

The Vineyard is working to improve its food security by producing more on-island through agriculture and foraging. And despite the challenges in other areas, Robinson reminds himself that the best thing he can do is just keep chipping away at the problem.

“It’s easy to be frustrated in this kind of work, but this is a multi-generational change. I’m only going to see one period of it, and then somebody else is going to pick it up. This is just going to be a slow process of evolving our community. If we can do it right, we’ll be better off in the future.”

A resilient Martha’s Vineyard looks like: A robust, electrified public transit system, a diversified  economy with a non-extractive tourism industry, locally produced food, offshore wind 

Resilience is…A holistic approach to conservation.

Alexis Bonogofsky

Director of the Sustainable Ranching Initiative for World Wildlife Fund and Yellowstone County Planning Board member.

Being a rancher on the Northern Great Plains can be challenging. Profit margins can be low. Markets can be uncertain. And then there’s the increasing droughts and unpredictability of precipitation caused by climate change. As a resident of Billings, Montana who runs her own family sheep and goat ranch, Bonogofsky is acutely aware of these challenges.

“The larger Northern Great Plains is definitely experiencing impacts from climate change already. Our winters are getting warmer, so we have less snow pack, and we have less water going into the growing season and into the summer.”

Bonogofsky works on programs at World Wildlife Fund (WWF) that provide funding support and guidance for ranchers pursuing regenerative grazing practices which can make ranches more resilient to climate change. Woodwell Climate partners with WWF to analyze ecological data that can help inform those practices and model future outcomes based on changes in land management. When properly managed, grazing animals can actually help mitigate climate change as well, promoting the growth of native plant species that lock away carbon in their deep roots.

“When you think about iconic Western wildlife, grassland ecosystems are where they thrive and where their best habitat is. Ranchers are managing a lot of grass, and the healthier the grasslands are, the more wildlife we have and the cleaner water we have. Grasslands also sequester a lot of carbon, so healthy grasslands that stay intact are necessary to help mitigate the effects of climate change.”

To improve management practices and achieve healthy grasslands, Bonogofsky says, you have to employ solutions that address the entire system holistically— and that includes the people.

“For resilient communities and ecosystems, you can’t separate the people from the land.

For the land and wildlife to be healthy, the people in those communities have to be healthy too.”

That means conservation work isn’t always just protecting plants or animals. It’s also working with community groups to improve housing options in nearby towns or setting up daycare services for ranching families. Strengthening communities, Bonogofsky says, makes people more likely to stay and invest in a place, to do their part in making it better.

“I do this work because it matters. I have a niece and nephew and I want to say to them that I did everything I could to try to make the place better—a place where people can thrive in the future. I’m surrounded by people every day that are making a difference in their communities. And I think if we all do that where we’re from, we actually have an impact.”

Resilient rangeland communities look like: Diverse and intact native grasslands, ranches that are profitable while storing carbon and maintaining ecosystem services, rural communities with services like daycare, housing, and healthcare

Resilience is… Getting creative with your resources.

Sean Hogan

Environmental Sustainability Manager for Barnstable, MA

Hogan’s job is to care about everything climate change, energy, and emissions-related in the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts. He works with the municipal government to identify and pursue funding for projects that could help the town adapt. Barnstable, the largest town on Cape Cod, is one of several Massachusetts communities for which Woodwell Climate conducted a risk assessment, modeling flood risk and stormwater system vulnerability. 

Because of his position, Hogan has a clear view into the challenges faced by municipalities in regards to climate resilience. Funding is often short, offices understaffed, and public opinion hard to sway. Hogan has found the best way through is to chase opportunities that combine immediate positive impacts with long-term climate benefits.

“So far, I’ve found in municipal work you have to work opportunistically as to where grants might be available or where there’s institutional interest. We have a finite amount of resources, and if we can husband those resources appropriately, we can spend them in ways that serve the public good.”

Hogan uses the example of electric vehicles, which reduce emissions from transportation, contributing to long-term climate mitigation as well as reducing air pollution for residents in the near term.

“[Climate change is] a problem that’s uniquely designed to foil humans, because we have a hard time grasping those kinds of slow-moving crises. So you either have to change people’s minds, or you find projects that fit into a more favorable psychology.”

Funding opportunities for adaptation projects of all kinds have also become more uncertain with a federal administration slashing climate programs.

“We’re having to come to terms with the change in administration and the financing landscape. We’re gonna have to navigate this period by being a little bit cautious and we’re going to have to become more creative and keep a closer eye on the bottom line so we can create the savings necessary to fund more.”

Resilience will also involve building positive relationships, which for Hogan have been crucial to moving work forward.

“Relationships are important for everything— for building political support, access to resources, expertise, and different perspectives.”

A resilient Barnstable looks like:  Electrified systems that don’t depend on fossil fuels, loan programs to help homeowners install solar and resources for renters looking to lower energy bills, public projects that offer both immediate and long-term benefits, dedicated staff time to pursue climate and sustainability solutions. 

Resilience is… An uphill battle with a wildfire behind you.

Brooke Woods

Climate Adaptation Specialist for Permafrost Pathways and Tribal Citizen of Rampart, AK.

Woods’ hometown of Rampart, Alaska is a small fishing village on the Yukon River. Here, Alaska Native residents practice a subsistence lifestyle of hunting, fishing, and living off the land. Rampart, like many communities in interior Alaska—and across the Arctic—is feeling the impacts of the warming climate now.

The Arctic is one of the fastest warming places on the planet, and as it heats up, permafrost, or perennially frozen ground, upon which many villages are built, is thawing. This can lead to erosion, ground collapse, and infrastructural damage. Woods’s role on Woodwell Climate’s Permafrost Pathways project is to use her policy expertise to help Tribal partners navigate the tricky landscape of federal and state agencies and funding, as well as uplift tribal sovereignty.

On the Yukon River, one of the biggest concerns is the complete collapse of multiple salmon species. Salmon are suffering heat stress from increased water temperatures, changes in the marine environment, overharvest from bycatch in federal and state fisheries, and competition from hatchery-produced fish. 

“We have not been able to fish for five years with an expectation that we will not fish for seven more, and that is a climate and cultural crisis.”

Losing access to these fish cuts off Tribes from a traditional cultural practice as well as a critical food source. Both state and federal agencies are involved in managing fisheries in Alaska, and while there are options for consultation, there is no deference to Tribes in decision making.

Additionally, the threat of permafrost thaw places Tribes in an emotionally challenging position. Community members must decide whether to relocate their villages or stay and shore up crumbling infrastructure, with little guidance or support from government agencies. 

“There is no adaptation framework for the crisis tribes are in when it comes to relocation. One big hope of this project and working with our Tribal liaisons is developing that [framework] in any stage. That would be a big success.”

The fight for deference, respect, and resources has not been an easy one. Woods compares it to escaping a wildfire to face an uphill climb. But her people’s history of resilience—of maintaining their connection to the land over 10,000 years in Alaska—gives her strength. 

“You get out of the wildfire and you make your way up, and it’s a constant fight. Our ways of life are so connected to our ability to hunt, fish, and gather that Tribes are willing to continue this good fight. When it comes to advocating for our ways of life, our people are so humble and working tirelessly.”

A resilient Yukon River community looks like: Healthy salmon populations, stable permafrost, legal deference to Tribes in decisionmaking around natural resources, federal and state support for relocation, continued traditional ways of life

Each year at the Mountainfilm documentary film festival a mural is erected on a coffee shop in downtown Telluride, Colorado— a mountain mining town turned world-class winter sports destination. The festival showcases films with thought-provoking themes including environmental justice, Indigenous sovereignty, racial equity, and our collective responsibility to care for the natural world. These murals carry those themes year-round, becoming an integral part of Telluride’s main avenue and vibrant art culture. Past murals have been commissioned from artists including Shepard Fairey and Banksy.

This year, Woodwell’s lead cartographer Greg Fiske was selected to display his maps as art for the mural wall. The resulting piece, “Cartographies of Arctic Change”, will remain in place until next spring, and shows the rapidly changing Arctic landscape as seen by Fiske during the process of turning satellite imagery into data used by the Center’s climate scientists. Here, Fiske talks about his process and thinking behind the creation of this mural:

SR: How did this opportunity come about?

GF: It kind of came out of nowhere. I certainly wasn’t expecting it when they said, “we think your stuff would look great on this wall. What do you think?” And I said sure! 

Of course, I’ve never created a map this size (26.5 by 36 feet), so I was eager to experiment. We had to go back and forth about which of the maps would best suit the space, yet also tell a story that leads viewers to our science here at Woodwell.

SR: How did you decide on the final image?

GF: I was told that whatever you put on the wall tends to influence the feeling that you get while you’re sitting there, having your coffee. [The shop owners] said that they made a mistake one year putting up an image of something cold like an iceberg, and it kind of made the whole place feel cold and dreary. So when we selected the maps, we had to make sure that they didn’t make people feel awkward while sitting there enjoying the outdoor space. 

We came up with the idea of multiple maps in strips instead of one big map to be able to have each map show something different, but could all have a single theme and tell a story.

SR: What is that story?

GF: “Cartographies of Arctic Change”— it’s what we look at on a regular basis within our geospatial analyses, modeling, and science here at Woodwell that indicates rapid change in the Arctic. 

Each one of these slices in the mural, in addition to being beautiful art, are also actually the data that goes into the models that drive Woodwell’s Arctic science. 

The Arctic is one of the fastest changing landscapes on the planet— melting ice, thawing ground, lakes forming or draining, less snow and more fires— and you get a unique view of those changes when you spend so much time looking at geospatial data and satellite imagery.

I’m one of the people who pull in this raw data and prepare it for others who may be creating models or mapping some element of a landscape. I look at this data and make sure it’s the right format, quality, and resolution to satisfy the needs of models, but in doing so, there are many cases where I’m like, “Wow, this is really beautiful. Other folks should see the data at this stage, instead of just the final product.” So some of those images are what ended up in the mural. I hope it can give the many viewers who will see it a new perspective on the impacts climate change is having on one of the most beautiful regions of the world.

SR: What does it mean to you to have been selected to showcase that beauty through this mural?

GF: Of course it’s an honor. It’s interesting to think about something that I’ve seen so many times at screen size or social media size now being amplified to building size.  I’m super thankful to the folks at Mountainfilm and Telco for displaying our work. I’ve never seen any of my maps in mural format and I won’t actually know how it’ll look until I get to Telluride and see it in person. I’m super excited!

With stronger storms, higher seas, and hotter days, climate change is disrupting the assumptions on which most of our modern systems were established. The insurance industry is feeling the acute impacts of increasingly extreme weather and disaster events, and regulatory policy has failed to keep up—putting communities and companies at risk of huge financial losses. 

That’s the message Woodwell Climate Research Associate Dominick Dusseau carried to policymakers during a congressional briefing in Washington DC on May 6. Woodwell Climate has conducted an extensive analysis of climate-caused vulnerabilities within the insurance industry. In a recent policy brief, Dusseau and Policy Analyst Jamie Cummings outlined major risks, as well as proposed regulatory solutions.

One of the chief concerns is the use of “catastrophe models.” Insurance companies calculate potential financial losses from natural disasters based on these models, which estimate the likelihood of something like a category 5 hurricane occurring in a particular year based on historical data. What these catastrophe models generally do not take into account are increases in the frequency and intensity of such events due to climate change. Additionally, population expansion in risk-prone areas continues to increase the potential for damage.

“Climate change is making extreme weather events less predictable and that uncertainty makes it harder for models to get it right,” says Dusseau.

This means the cost of existing insurance policies in high-risk areas like coastal or wildfire-prone communities may not reflect the actual risk to life and property. Alternatively, those insurers who do account for climate change might raise premiums out of the range of affordability or be unable to price high-risk areas appropriately due to regulation and decide an area is altogether uninsurable—a trend being felt acutely in California in recent years.

Catastrophe models are also proprietary, meaning the price of similar insurance policies can vary widely depending on which one a company uses, and lack of transparency leaves the public in the dark on what’s accounting for those differences.

“Depending on which model insurers use, the premiums could be significantly different,” says Dusseau. “This is one of the reasons that greater review and regulation of these models is necessary, so that the risks associated with those premiums are calculated accordingly.”

Solutions, Dusseau and Cummings propose, lie in coherent federal regulation. The brief proposes a national public catastrophe model and rules around fair and appropriate pricing, as well as more accessible public information about insurance. The report also proposes we explore alternative methods of insurance, like parametric policies that cover lost income when a certain metric, like temperature, breaches a threshold, like heat that makes working conditions unsafe.

To get this information into the hands of policymakers, Dusseau participated in a panel briefing for congressional staff hosted by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI). The briefing identified areas where Congress should play a role in bolstering the long-term resilience and insurability of communities. Dusseau highlighted areas of Woodwell’s report, speaking on the shortcomings of catastrophe models, as well as areas for improvement within the National Flood Insurance Program. 

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island provided opening remarks at the briefing. Whitehouse is the Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and former chair of the Senate Budget Committee. Through both his current and former leadership positions, he has been a steadfast champion of climate mitigation and adaptation, underscoring the economic ramifications of climate change.

“The insurance industry makes trillion dollar bets anticipating what’s going to happen in the real world, and it also has a fiduciary duty…to get it right,” said Whitehouse.

The 100-year flood event currently impacts more than 840,000 structures and causes greater than $1.47 billion (2025 USD) in building damages across Ethiopia, according to a country-wide climate change risk assessment from the Woodwell Climate Research Center. The report, titled “Climate Risk Assessment: Ethiopia,” was released May 14 and offers granular projections on risk factors that will impact Ethiopia’s communities over the coming decades. 

“Ethiopia faces big climate risks like droughts, extreme rainfall, unreliable stream flows, and floods, but they’re not impossible to overcome. By using robust data, focusing on communities, and taking a joined-up approach (like Woodwell Climate Research Center suggests), Ethiopia can become more resilient and create a sustainable future for everyone. The time for action is now,” said Professor Engdawork Assefa with the Center for Environment and Development at Addis Ababa University. 

“The climate risk assessment enhances Ethiopia’s capacity to take targeted action, boosting its national climate goals under NDC 3 and supporting its case for equity in Loss and Damage frameworks. By offering a scientific foundation, it enables Ethiopia to strategically direct investments, policies, and partnerships toward a resilient future,” said Abas Mohammed with the Ethiopian Ministry of Planning and Development.  

The assessment, completed in collaboration with the Addis Ababa University and Ministry of Planning and Development, reveals that climate change will reshape weather patterns across Ethiopia, posing challenges to water availability for agriculture and flooding in the built environment. Key findings include:

“Climate shocks threaten food security, yet targeted investments in closing the yield gap—through improved seeds, irrigation, livestock practices, market access, and insurance—can help mitigate crisis impacts.,” said Dr. Abay Yimere, CEO of African Climate Center for Adaptation and Mitigation and Woodwell collaborator.

The report underscores that while Ethiopia has established a strong policy landscape for climate action through several strategic initiatives, including the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and the Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy (CRGE), localized data insights are crucial for evidence-informed approaches to resilience. 

“Ethiopia has done excellent work on climate research and resilience, and it is an honor to be able to support those efforts with our science,” said Woodwell President Dr. Max Holmes. “We hope that this risk assessment will help our Ethiopian government partners prepare for additional climate change impacts and invest in adaptation.” 

Upcoming Workshop to Share Climate Analysis Skills

In conjunction with the report launch, Woodwell will host a capacity-sharing workshop after the report delivery in Addis Ababa. The workshop will provide participants with technical skills in climate data analysis fundamentals, including QGIS exercises and Google Earth Engine techniques.  

“Knowledge sharing and growing capacity is a crucial part of building climate resilience,” said Dom Dusseau, Lead Author on the report who will be facilitating portions of the workshop. “I am very excited for the bi-directional skill transfer that will be taking place.” 

The full-day workshop will include hands-on exercises, discussions on climate analysis methodologies, and resources for continued learning.