The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (above) and Bering Strait regions are home to Indigenous tribes and diverse ecosystems. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
By Catelyn Fitzgerald ’23
Staff Writer
The Biden administration recently delivered a major victory for environmental protection by reinstating the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area. The protected area off the coast of Alaska was originally designated in a 2016 executive order issued by the Obama administration. The designation was then revoked in the early weeks of Trump’s presidency. The NBSCRA was restored as part of Biden’s first executive order, the Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.
The 2016 order called NBSCRA a “home to numerous subsistence communities, rich [I]ndigenous cultures, and unique marine ecosystems, each of which plays an important role in maintaining regional resilience.” The melting of sea ice due to climate change has left the region vulnerable to an increasing amount of commercial activity. Several regions of Alaska’s Outer Continental Shelf were withdrawn from future oil and gas leasing due to the order. The order also authorized the formation of a task force which would be made up of representatives from multiple government departments and agencies along with a Bering Sea Intergovernmental Tribal Advisory Council.
Authorization of additional research on and limitation of commercial activity in the NBSCRA makes up the second half of the executive order. This includes limitations on vessel traffic as well as provisions to take more severe action, such as the designation of zero-discharge zones to protect aquatic ecosystems. Specific shipping routes would also be designated under the order to limit ocean pollution and avoid sensitive areas. Existing protections of the NBSCRA region were reinforced by the order, such as a ban on trawling, a type of fishing that causes damage to ocean floor life.
The executive order also emphasizes the value of tribal knowledge in environmental protection efforts, stating that “These communities possess a unique understanding of the Arctic ecosystem, and their traditional knowledge should serve as an important resource to inform Federal [decision-making].” Input from Alaskan tribal governments will be channeled through the Bering Sea Intergovernmental Tribal Advisory Council, which will consist of 9 to 11 representatives from Alaska tribes “with a breadth of interests in the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area.”
The inclusion of an advisory council as well as the support for Indigenous knowledge in the executive order has been applauded by many tribal leaders and organizations. A press statement released by multiple consortiums representing over 70 tribes in the Bering Strait and Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta regions celebrated the reinstatement of the order and issued an additional call to action. The release asked Congress to create “complementing legislation to provide permanent protections for the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area, so that our home waters are not used as a political football from administration to administration.” Their concern about the long-term fate of the NBSCRA reveals the impermanence of actions accomplished through executive orders, dozens of which have created and undone environmental protections across administrations. An issue as long-lasting as climate change requires consistent and permanent solutions, which, as the press release points out, is often best achieved through congressional legislation.
The restoration of the NBSCRA is just one of a number of actions being taken by the Biden administration to protect areas made vulnerable by climate change. With encouragement, the actions taken in this region could set a precedent for the inclusion of Indigenous groups in creating future environmental legislation.