2016 Arctic Listening Sessions

The Arctic is changing faster than anywhere else on earth. How is climate change impacting the Arctic marine environment and subsistence hunting of marine mammals by Alaska Native communities? On February 3 – 11, 2016, we held a series of listening sessions in Alaska to focus on these questions. Our goal was to gain a better understanding of how climate change is impacting Alaska Native communities and the marine mammals upon which they depend.

In lieu of a traditional annual meeting, we held four smaller public meetings in Alaska. We visited communities in Barrow, Kotzebue, and Nome to receive input from Alaska Native communities and other regional partners. On February 11, 2016, we held a “wrap-up” public meeting in Anchorage, where we summarized what we heard and discussed potential next steps (see the Anchorage meeting agenda).

A copy of the Anchorage public meeting presentation, summarizing discussions from all listening sessions, is available for download here. A written summary of the key discussion points and potential action items from each listening session is available for download here.

We welcome feedback from attendees and participants on how we characterized the summaries and comments from each listening session. Please send comments or feedback to mmc@mmc.gov.