Leadership models and community resilience to climate change events: A case study of an Alaskan bush village

• Main Author: Young, Wendy Jo
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Iowa State University Digital Repository 2013
• Subjects: Community Development; Adaptation and resilience; Adaptive co-management leadership; alaska climate change; Inupiaq culture and subsistence; Native leadership; Rational bureaucatic leadership; Climate; Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment; Sociology; Sustainability; Arctic; Climate change; Inupiaq; Moose; Alaska
• Online Access: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/13233; https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4240&context=etd

ABSTRACT Climate change in the Arctic is happening at twice the rate of the rest of the world. Arctic communities are struggling to survive as the effects of these changes threaten the very fabric of their communities. Resilience to these climate change events is determined by many factors. Communities must be able to act collectively, use local knowledge, have access to financial resources, and participate in the decision making processes. All of these factors are determined by the effectiveness of the leadership models employed to reach specific community goals. Climate change events and leadership both occur at the local level. Studying the results produced by different leadership models employed in one Alaskan, Inupiaq village yields important insight into climate change and community resilience. The case study village uses three concurrent leadership styles to build community resilience for three different climate change events. The Native leadership model is being used for emergency preparedness and response to the increasing severity of fall storms and flooding. The rational bureaucratic leadership model is being used to build a protective sea wall to preserve and stabilize the eroding shoreline. The adaptive co-management model is being used to manage failing moose populations. Understanding the key role leadership has played in this community will provide pertinent insights for communities throughout the world suffering the effects of climate change.