Climate change has impacted and will continue to impact indigenous peoples, their lifeways and culture,
and the natural world upon which they rely, in unpredictable and potentially devastating ways. Many climate
adaptation planning tools fail to address the unique needs, values and cultures of indigenous communities.
This Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu, which was developed by a diverse group of collaborators
representing tribal, academic, intertribal and government entities in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan,
provides a framework to integrate indigenous and traditional knowledge, culture, language and history into
the climate adaptation planning process. Developed as part of the Climate Change Response Framework,
the Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu is designed to work with the Northern Institute of Applied Climate
Science (NIACS) Adaptation Workbook, and as a stand-alone resource. The Menu is an extensive collection
of climate change adaptation actions for natural resource management, organized into tiers of general and
more specific ideas. It also includes a companion Guiding Principles document, which describes detailed
considerations for working with tribal communities. While this first version of the Menu was created based
on Ojibwe and Menominee perspectives, languages, concepts and values, it was intentionally designed to
be adaptable to other indigenous communities, allowing for the incorporation of their language, knowledge
and culture. Primarily developed for the use of indigenous communities, tribal natural resource agencies
and their non-indigenous partners, this Tribal Climate Adaptation Menu may be useful in bridging
communication barriers for non-tribal persons or organizations interested in indigenous approaches to
climate adaptation and the needs and values of tribal communities.
