A brief history of Indigenous involvement in the U.S. National Climate Assessment

Abstract Indigenous knowledge systems have some of the most comprehensive bodies of information about the nature of climate change and about how to take action to avert dangerous climate change. The inclusion of Indigenous knowledge systems and Indigenous scholars in major scientific assessments is widely advocated for today. However, little is understood about the history of how Indigenous persons have influenced scientific assessments through exercising their agency and leadership, whether national assessments such as the U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA) or international assessments such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The purpose of this article is to show that the NCA represents one of the most consistent and robust inclusions of Indigenous peoples and Indigenous knowledges among national and international scientific assessments, including Indigenous-focused chapters in four of the five major NCA assessment reports. It is important to understand how, over time, Indigenous involvement in the NCA has changed, expanded, and fostered examples that other assessments can draw from. At the same time, significant work remains to further the knowledge, leadership, and influence of Indigenous knowledge holders, Indigenous scientists, and Indigenous leaders in the NCA, and to ensure a sustained process that is invulnerable to political turnover.