United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

The Native Village of Newtok is threatened by climate-induced progressive erosion and flooding due to increased temperatures, thawing permafrost and decreased sea ice. Newtok is a traditional Yup’ik Eskimo village with an active subsistence lifestyle and a US federally-recognized tribe. The tribe’s ancestors have lived on the Bering Sea coast for at least 2,000 years. The ecological changes occurring in the Arctic are threatening the lives of the community’s residents and impacting the village’s ability to receive essential supplies, such as fuel and food. Critical village infrastructure has also been damaged or destroyed. The village barge landing was lost to erosion in 2005 leaving the community with no cost-effective way to receive barge deliveries. Despite spending millions of dollars on hazard mitigation measures, such as erosion and flood control, government agencies have been unable to protect Newtok residents from these climate-induced ecological disasters.

Funding agencies have been reluctant or prohibited from replacing deteriorating infrastructure in Newtok with new facilities due to the potential threat of erosion and flooding. This has had an adverse impact on the village’s quality of life.
In 2006, a health corporation study found that sanitation conditions in Newtok were grossly inadequate for public health protection. Between 1994 and 2004, 29% of infants in Newtok had been hospitalized with lower respiratory illness. This percentage was believed to be indicative of water-washed disease, a condition attributed to lack of infrastructure development and failure to properly maintain existing infrastructure in the village.

In 1994, the Newtok Traditional Council (NTC), the sole governing authority of the village, initiated a relocation planning process in response to the village’s erosion problem. After two U.S. federal disaster declarations, caused by flood waters surging into the village, the NTC requested assistance in their relocation effort from U.S federal and state government agencies in 2006.

In 2006, the Newtok Planning Group was formed, an ad hoc team of approximately 28 governmental and non-governmental organizations with an interest in providing technical assistance to Newtok’s relocation. Coordination and collaboration has been the guiding principal of the Newtok Planning Group. Meeting on a regular basis since its formation, the Newtok Planning Group has identified agency resources and established an overall strategy focused on addressing the community’s short-term emergency needs at the existing village site and as well as the long-term relocation planning and community development needs at the new village site.

The collaboration of the Newtok Planning Group is entirely voluntary. Currently, no formalized process or government structure exists to address village relocation. A 2009 U.S. government report recognized that no government agency has the authority to relocate communities, no governmental organization exists that can address the strategic planning needs of relocation, and no funding is specifically designated for relocation. Despite these obstacles, the Native Village of Newtok is relocating because of the leadership of the Newtok Traditional Council in the unique multi-disciplinary multi-level public private partnership of the Newtok Planning Group.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The key benefits to this initiative are twofold. First, the Native Village of Newtok is relocating despite the lack of relocation-specific funding and an institutional framework to guide the relocation process. The Newtok Traditional Council (NTC) is guiding the relocation efforts of Newtok Planning Group (NPG), a unique public private partnership, to ensure that the human rights of the indigenous members of their tribe are protected during the relocation process and that the relocation serves to improve the standard of living of tribe members, protect the cultural heritage of the community and also implement sustainable development principles at the relocation site. Second, the work of the NPG serves as a model locally, nationally and internationally on community-based culturally and linguistically appropriate adaptation strategies to climate change, which protect the human rights of those most vulnerable to climate change. The critical elements of Newtok’s relocation that serve as a model are: a. Sovereignty: The Native Village of Newtok is a Federally-Recognized Tribe. The people of Newtok share a strong bond with each other and feel that the disbursement of their tribe to other communities would result in the end of their identity as a unique people and break the connection with their traditions and values. Successful relocation of the entire village to Mertarvik strengthens Newtok’s self-governance and self-determination as a people. b. Cultural Relevance: Newtok is a traditional Yup’ik Eskimo village with an active subsistence lifestyle. Their ancestors have lived on the Bering Sea coast for at least 2,000 years. Newtok residents view the move to Mertarvik positively because the new village site is within the community’s traditional subsistence areas and ancestral lands. Mertarvik is being designed with the involvement of the community. The Yup’ik culture is reflected everywhere, from the layout of the new village to the design of the community buildings and homes. c. Collaboration: The Newtok Planning Group is creating a multidisciplinary and multilevel process for how governmental and nongovernmental agencies can work together to assist communities faced with climate-induced ecological threats. d. Sustainability: Mertarvik is being planned and designed to be sustainable and useful to the Newtok community for years to come. Newtok residents play a key role in the planning and design of Mertarvik, so there is a real sense of ownership. The first community building, the Mertarvik Evacuation Center, is being designed to be energy efficient, cost-effective and culturally-appropriate. Spaces in the building are being designed so that functions can be re-assigned when the entire village has moved and the building becomes a community center. The Mertarvik community layout focuses on an efficient, cost-effective design that provides access to the village’s traditional subsistence areas, preserves Newtok’s traditional way of life, and improves the quality of life of the people of Newtok by providing infrastructure that is reliable, affordable and sustainable.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The Newtok Traditional Council (NTC) is the sole governing authority of the Native Village of Newtok, US federally recognized indigenous tribe. The NTC proposed relocation as the only durable solution to the climate-induced ecological changes threatening the lives of the members of their tribe. The NTC is a principal driver in a unique multidisciplinary and multilevel partnership known as the Newtok Planning Group (NPG), an interagency group that has worked together since 2006 to implement Newtok's relocation effort. The collaborative partnership of the NPG was enhanced in 2008 by the addition of the military Innovative Readiness Training Program (IRTP). The IRTP provides quality services to remote communities while affording training to military personnel. The IRTP has made a five-year commitment to the Newtok relocation effort by providing labor and transportation of materials and equipment for the construction of critical infrastructure at the new village. This collaboration has demonstrated that when different levels of government work together great things can be accomplished. Twenty-eight tribal, state, local, regional and national government and non-governmental agencies comprise the Newtok Planning Group and are stakeholders in Newtok’s relocation. Participants in the Newtok Planning Group from the Native Village of Newtok are the Newtok Traditional Council (NTC) and Newtok Native Corporation (NNC). The Newtok Native Corporation is the village corporation and land title holder for the original village site and the relocation site, Mertarvik. The Newtok Native Corportation was created pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. From the State of Alaska, 11 agencies work towards Newtok’s relocation, including Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development (DCCED), Division of Community & Regional Affairs (DCRA) – group coordinator; Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)/Village Safe Water Program (VSW); Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT/PF); Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMV)/Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHS&EM); Alaska Department of Natural resources (DNR), Division of Coastal and Ocean Resources (DCOM); Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED); Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS); Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA)/Alaska Energy Authority (AEA); and Alaska Governor’s Office. From the federal government, 11 agencies participate in the Newtok Planning Group including U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Alaska District; U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration (EDA); U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development (USDA-RD); U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS); U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA); U.S Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Denali Commission; and Senator Lisa Murkowski’s Office. Regional organizations include Association of Village Council Presidents Regional Housing Authority (AVCP); Coastal Villages Region Fund (CVRF); Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD); Rural Alaska Community Action Program (RurAL CAP); and Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation (YKHC).

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The primary strategy used to implement the relocation was the creation of the Newtok Planning Group (NPG), a multi-level and multi-disciplinary working group dedicated to relocating the community of Newtok. The success of this strategy is due to the fact that the Newtok Traditional Council is the primary driver of the NPG and guides all of the interagency relocation work. The collaborative relationship between the tribe and the agencies that participate in the NPG helps to sustain the governance and leadership of the Newtok tribe. In this way, the human rights of the tribe members, including their right to subsistence, their cultural heritage and their right to self-determination, have been protected. Four key strategies guide the NPG: SIGNIFICANCE TO SOVEREIGNTY The tribe’s proactive approach and commitment to the relocation effort is the most significant contributor to Newtok’s progress. The relocation effort is community-driven and on Newtok’s terms. The Newtok community overwhelmingly voted to relocate the entire community to a new development site, in an effort to maintain the village’s cohesiveness as a unique culture and tribe. The village's preferred relocation site was located on US government land. Working many years to negotiate a land exchange with the U.S. government and gain title to the Mertarvik site was a hard battle won by Newtok. The self-governance and self-determination of the Newtok tribe was reinforced by this success. CULTURAL RELEVANCE The new community at Mertarvik will be a reflection of the Yup'ik Qaluyaarmiut culture, from the layout of the new community to the influence of culture in the design of the buildings. In developing the Mertarvik Community Layout Plan, a community planning workshop was held in Newtok with village residents to identify community goals and objectives for the new village, and to gain community input on future housing, energy, public buildings and roads. The Mertarvik Evacuation Center design embodies the knowledge of Elders and tribal leaders of the Newtok community, including orienting the building to prevent snowdrift and heating loss. SUSTAINABILITY In planning and developing Mertarvik, the NPG recognizes that creating a sustainable new community is as much about ensuring the community’s capacity for self-governance and the survival of its culture as it is about ensuring a healthy village economy with sound infrastructure and buildings. Community sustainability is a principle woven into every aspect of development of the new village: COLLABORATION Collaboration and coordination are the guiding principals of the NPG. The collaboration of the NPG is entirely voluntary. No formalized process or government structure exists to address village relocation. The Newtok Planning Group has identified the following essential elements of a successful collaborative effort that can be transferred to any government-to-government relationship: • Agency representatives who develop trusting relationships with the village/tribe • A willing and motivated village/tribe • In-the-community, on-the-ground assistance by government • Support of the effort by the “culture” of the agency • Willingness of agency representatives to work together • Belief in the value of the work by all involved

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
In 1983, the Newtok Traditional Council (NTC) began to document the erosion affecting their community. Due to progressive erosion problems and concerns about the safety of village residents, in 1994, the NTC initiated a relocation planning process. The tribe members voted and selected a relocation site located within a U.S. National Wildlife Refuge. Acquiring land title to the relocation site was the first step taken by the Native Village of Newtok to relocate their entire community. In 2003 the U.S. Congress authorized the acquisition by the Newtok Native Corporation to land title of the village’s relocation site. After acquiring land title, the NTC issued a report in 2004, which documented the progressive erosion problems affecting the village, the social and cultural impact of the erosion problems on the community, the traditional methods of hazard relief that had been tried and failed, and the relocation efforts initiated by the community. In 2006, 28 U.S. state and federal government and non-governmental agencies joined the NTC to address the community’s short-term emergency needs at the existing village and infrastructure needs at the relocation site, as well as the long-term relocation planning and community development needs at the relocation site. This group is the Newtok Planning Group (NPG). The NPG has accomplished several key relocation steps: • The Mertarvik Community Layout Plan was developed and provides the "blueprint" for the efficient and orderly development of a sustainable new community. Newtok identified three principal goals for Mertarvik’s community layout: 1)Provide access to the natural environment; 2) Preserve the traditional way of life; and 3) Use reliable, affordable and sustainable infrastructure. These goals are infused into every aspect of the new community layout. • Mertarvik Barge Landing Facility, constructed in 2010, was an effort between the NTC, the State of Alaska and the U.S. federal Economic Development Administration. The facility is the critical first step in the relocation construction, necessary for delivery of equipment and materials to Mertarvik. • Mertarvik Evacuation Center will be built in the summer of 2011 and is the joint effort of the NTC, the State of Alaska, the U.S. Corps of Engineers, and the Cold Climate Housing Research Center. As the first public building to be constructed at Mertarvik, the Mertarvik Evacuation Center serves as a model to inform housing and other buildings that will be erected at Mertarvik. The Mertarvik Evacuation Center is a model sustainable northern shelter: easy for the community to maintain, low cost, and culturally and environmentally appropriate. The design of the Mertarvik Evacuation Center is community-driven and incorporates traditional aspects of Yup’ik culture. • Mertarvik Access Road, leading from the barge landing facility to the evacuation shelter, will be constructed in 2011 through the efforts of the State of Alaska, U.S. Corps of Engineers, NTC and Bureau of Indian Affairs and the military Innovative Readiness Training Program. The design of the access road reflects village residents’ desire to retain travel by foot or by all-terrain vehicles in the summer and by snow machine in the winter.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The main obstacles have been the lack of an institutional framework and lack of designated funding for the relocation. There are no U.S. federal or state statutes or guidelines to guide the work of the multidisciplinary and multilevel governmental and non-governmental organization effort to relocate Newtok. As a consequence, the work of the Newtok Traditional Council has been extraordinarily difficult and time-consuming to bring disparate agencies together with different missions to coordinate their relocation effort. Following Newtok’s success in selecting a relocation site and acquiring land for that site, in 2003, the village met with significant hurdles in funding the relocation. The village’s plans to relocate, combined with the imminent threat of flooding and erosion, rendered Newtok ineligible for capital funding for improvements to existing infrastructure (e.g. water and sewer, bulk fuel tanks, power plant, and clinic) to meet needs at the current village until the relocation has been completed. The ability to divert these resources to the new village site has been hampered by state and federal policies that create barriers to investment in non-existent communities. In addition, U.S. statutes have exacerbated the challenges faced by the Newtok Planning Group and created barriers. For example, the Alaska Department of Education can not build a school at the relocation site until 25 children are enrolled to attend school, but families will not move to the relocation site until their children can attend school at that location. Similarly, U.S. disaster relief statutes authorize the release of funding when there is a state-authorized or presidential disaster declaration. However, these funds can only be used to repair and rebuild at the location where the disaster occurred and can not be used to repair or rebuild in locations known to be a floodplain and prone to future damage. Consequently, in Newtok’s situation, when the President declared two disaster declarations, once in 2004 and again in 2005, the funding released could not be used to repair and rebuild damaged and destroyed critical infrastructure in the village because the community of Newtok is located within a known flood plain. The funding could also not be used to rebuild infrastructure at the relocation site because the U.S. statutes do not authorize such activities. Through the creative collaboration of the Newtok Planning Group, Newtok has managed to move beyond these obstacles, and the relocation effort is progressing. Newtok’s experience has brought these policy barriers to the attention of both the state and federal governments, and recommendations have since been made to address these policy impediments to village relocation.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
The relocation effort has required extensive financial, technical and human resources. Coordination and collaboration has been the guiding principal of the Newtok Planning Group (NPG). This has included the identification and assessment of the resources each agency and organization can bring to the table in an effort to find areas of potential cost sharing, gaps in funding, and to avoid potential conflicts in relocation activities. The tribe, state and federal government has each contributed approximately one-third of the resources needed to relocate the community. These agencies are working together to maximize cost-sharing and leverage resources. This is particularly important because dedicated funding for the relocation effort has been extremely limited. The collaboration of the Newtok Planning Group is entirely voluntary. Currently, no formalized process or government structure exists to address village relocation. The Newtok Traditional Council has been instrumental in mobilizing the necessary resources to build the pioneer infrastructure at the relocation site. Working with the Alaska state government, they have facilitated quarterly meetings with the 28 different governmental and non-governmental organizations working on Newtok’s relocation. No road leads to or from the relocation site and there is no infrastructure at the site. As a consequence multiple and diverse state and federal government agencies with expertise in construction of major facilities, including an airstrip, barge landing, school, evacuation center, health clinic and housing. Through this multi-agency collaboration, the Newtok Planning Group has mobilized technical, human and financial resources to: 1) develop the Mertarvik Community Layout Plan , which provides the "blueprint" for the efficient and orderly development of a sustainable new community; 2) construct the Mertarvik Barge Landing Facility in 2010, which was a joint effort between the Newtok Traditional Council, the State of Alaska and the U.S. Economic Development Administration. This facility is the critical first step in the relocation effort, necessary for equipment and materials to be delivered to Mertarvik; 3) design and begin construction of the Mertarvik Access Road, leading from the barge landing facility to an evacuation shelter. Final construction will occur in 2011 through the joint efforts of the State of Alaska (materials and design), U.S. Corps of Engineers (design), NTC and Bureau of Indian Affairs (materials) and the military Innovative Readiness Training Program (labor, equipment and materials); and 4) design and construct the Mertarvik Evacuation Shelter, which will be built in the summer of 2011. This facility is the joint effort of the NTC, the State of Alaska (design and construction funding), the U.S. Corps of Engineers, and the Cold Climate Housing Research Center (pre-design).

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Transferability – The Newtok Planning Group is about to begin a strategic management planning process for the village relocation that will involve the Village of Newtok and all the stakeholder agencies and organizations involved in the relocation effort. Through this process, a “road map” will be developed which other communities facing relocation may follow. There are many lessons being learned from Newtok’s relocation process that can be transferred to other nations: • The ways in which tribes and government agencies can work together to ensure that projects are community-driven, sustainable and reflect the culture and needs of the community • The ways in which government agencies can work together to maximize cost-sharing and leveraging of resources, particularly when dedicated funding for efforts such as relocation is limited or not available • The steps a community must go through in the relocation process • The funding resources, outside conventional streams, available to relocating communities • Innovative, environmentally and culturally appropriate designs and alternative energy sources for sustainable communities, both in rural Alaska and in other parts of the world The Newtok Planning Group has identified the following essential elements of a successful collaborative effort that can be transferred to any government-to-government relationship: • Agency representatives who develop trusting relationships with the village/tribe • A willing and motivated village/tribe • In-the-community, on-the-ground assistance by government • Support of the effort by the “culture” of the agency • Willingness of agency representatives to work together • Belief in the value of the work by all involved Sustainability – The new village at Mertarvik is being planned and designed to be sustainable and useful to the Newtok community for years to come. Newtok residents play a key role in the planning and design or the new community, so there is a real sense of ownership and connectedness. The first community building, the Mertarvik Evacuation Center, is being designed to be energy efficient, cost-effective and culturally-appropriate. Spaces in the building are being designed so that functions can be re-assigned when the entire village has moved and the building becomes a community center. The Mertarvik community layout focuses on an efficient, cost-effective community design that provides access to the village’s traditional subsistence areas, preserves Newtok’s traditional way of life, and improves the quality of life of the people of Newtok by providing infrastructure that is reliable, affordable and sustainable. In 2009, the Tribal Administrator of the Newtok Traditional Council met with the Vice Principal Chief of the United Houma Nation of Louisiana regarding Newtok’s experience and lessons learned about village relocation. The Houma people of southern Louisiana are also dealing with the effects of coastal erosion and considering relocation. The Houma Tribe is currently looking for land to purchase so that tribal members can relocate to safer ground. Despite the distance between western Alaska and southern Louisiana and the differences in environment (sub-arctic versus semi-tropical), there are many similarities and parallels in the experiences of the two tribes.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
There are many lessons being learned from Newtok’s relocation process that can be transferred to other nations: • The ways in which tribes and government agencies can work together to ensure that projects are community-driven, sustainable and reflect the culture and needs of the community • The ways in which government agencies can work together to maximize cost-sharing and leveraging of resources, particularly when dedicated funding for efforts such as relocation is limited or not available • The steps a community must go through in the relocation process • The funding resources, outside conventional streams, available to relocating communities • Innovative, environmentally and culturally appropriate designs and alternative energy sources for sustainable communities, both in rural Alaska and in other parts of the world The Newtok Planning Group has identified the following essential elements of a successful collaborative effort that can be transferred to any government-to-government relationship: • Agency representatives who develop trusting relationships with the village/tribe • A willing and motivated village/tribe • In-the-community, on-the-ground assistance by government • Support of the effort by the “culture” of the agency • Willingness of agency representatives to work together • Belief in the value of the work by all involved


Institution Name:		Newtok Tradtional Council
Institution Type:		Government Agency
Contact Person:		Stanley Tom
Title:		Tribal Administrator
Telephone/ Fax:		907-236-2316
Institution's / Project's Website:		907-237-2428
E-mail:		stanley_tom2003@yahoo.com
Address:		P.O. Box 5545
Postal Code:		99559
City:		Newtok
State/Province:		Alaska
Country:		United States

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information