Having looked at the vulnerability of the U.S’s Northwest Inupiaq community in Kivalina, Alaska, we now turn to the Southeast bayous of Louisiana. These marshlands are another of America’s most at-risk regions as climate change progresses.
Heating up
The Southeast experienced a warm 1920s and 30s, followed by a cooler period until the 70s. Since then the warming has been steady, with the 2010s becoming the warmest decade in the records. Projections for future temperature, based on the IPCC’s lower and higher carbon concentration pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5), both show an increased temperature for the mid-to-late 21st century – with the most prominent warming experienced by the coastal regions (see figure below right).
Rising Storms and Seas
The sea level has risen by about 20 cm since the 1880s, 7 cm of which has occurred since 1990. However, in coastal low-lying regions subsidence of land has worsened the problem. Analyses at the NOAA measure a relative sea level rise of 30-90 cm. Rising sea levels and temperatures will increase the frequency and intensity of hurricanes and the following storm surges. Tropical storms will reach further inland more often, increasing the damage to homes and the displacement of people. This has the potential to cause up to $60 billion of damages per year under the highest concentration pathway.
Tribal vulnerability
Tribes living in the south of Louisiana are facing ever more pressure to relocate and adapt as the Gulf of Mexico encroaches on their land. Louisiana lost 1,800 square miles of land since the 1930s, the extent of this can be seen in the figures below.
The Isle de Jean Charles tribe are in a particularly precarious position. Isle de Jean Charles is a narrow ridge of land, split down the middle by the braided river and marshland of the St. Jean Charles bayou. Isle de Jean Charles have lost a staggering 98% of their landmass since 1950 and the population has fallen by 75% to below 100 people.
The community faces a wealth of environmental and cultural concerns. The loss of land is affecting the younger generation’s current upbringing; fast saltwater intrusion depletes the nitrogen and other nutrients that are essential for the plants to survive, causing a loss of biodiversity in the region. One of the major concerns for the local tribes is the loss of medicinal and traditional plants. Many of the culturally important plants used in traditional ceremonies are now extinct. Chief Albert of the Isle de Jean Charles tribe explains that he can no longer uphold many of the traditions that he was taught in the 1950s, as there is only one cactus left used for healing.
The salination of the water is a problem not driven by climate change however, but by the mismanagement of the environment, in the tribe's eyes, by large oil companies. The oil companies build large canals through the bayous, dredging the canals looking for oil reserves. This clearing of the canal floors allows the saltwater to intrude further inland affecting the region’s flora. The construction of pipelines and extraction of oil further disrupts the nature. The 4th NCA 2018 recognises that these unsustainable development practices have pushed the community to the brink of existence.
The Isle de Jean Charles community have now turned to resettlement plans. They have become part of a federal program for community-driven resettlement after being selected by the National Disaster Resilience Competition in 2016 to receive government funding. This is a promising pilot-program that, although there are no current future plans, could inspire resettlement efforts for other native communities. However, the federal government does not recognise Isle de Jean Charles tribe, which limits the authority that the community have over the funds.
With a growing burden on vulnerable communities in coastal regions, more and more funds will need to be allocated for resettlement plans. The population of coastal communities is expected to rise by 50-144% by 2100, and whilst it is often the belief that coastal regions are for wealthy inhabitants, there exists a large disparity. Tribal communities are just one example of minority groups that are often economically disadvantaged as well as socially. As poorer inhabitants are more bound to their places of birth, questions of environmental and social justice must be raised in the context of land loss and habitat destruction.
Climate change is not the only driver of the resettlement plans for Isle de Jean Charles, the unsustainable development of oil companies in the region has wreaked havoc with the biodiversity of the region. In the planetary boundary framework, a concept that is attempting to define the safe operating space for Earth, biodiversity loss is a boundary that we currently believe to have crossed. Local land use and extinction rates impact the function of a local ecosystem; whether this can be scaled up to a global level is the subject of much current research. Nevertheless, the Louisiana tribal communities are at the ever-receding-shoreline of these issues.