Write a summary of “tribal nations: climate change threatens traditional ways of life.”

Climate change poses a special threat to the 5.2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who live in the United States, 1.1 million of them on reservations. These populations already face serious problems arising from extreme poverty. Environmental losses from severe erosion and flooding have affected the environment, sometimes resulting in the necessity of relocation of communities.

The loss of traditional foods is underway. Ocean resources, such as salmon and shellfish have become scarcer; agricultural yields are less abundant due to soil erosion; traditional medicinal plants are increasingly hard to find on native lands. The shift in diet, along with the high price of non-traditional foods, has made health problems worse, including malnutrition and infectious disease. Meanwhile, an increase in wildfires due to drought threatens food supplies, cultural sites, residences, and local economies. It is not certain that the native communities will be able to adapt successfully to such drastic changes.

The impact of climate change on water supplies and ecosystems is another crucial factor. Drinking water quality and fish and wildlife habitats have become threatened. In addition to drought, floods, and fires, climate change may bring an increase in crop-destroying pests.

Alaska natives have been particularly hard hit by climate change. Temperatures have increased twice as much in the Arctic as in the world as a whole, and precipitation has become less predictable. Sea ice has shrunk, and sea level is rising; permafrost has thawed. Similar changes, such as melting schedules and water temperature variation, are occurring in freshwater. Storms have worsened, and flooding has increased. One result has been an increase in injuries to natives when they hunt, as well as an increasing number of hunters and fishers who are trapped far from their homes. Permafrost erosion and erratic melting have resulted in lost homes, buildings, and infrastructure, such as roads. This combination of conditions had led not only to economic stress but to loss of traditional culture, and thus to mental-health problems as well as physical ones.

Explanation:

to extend a country’s power and influence

c) all of the above