288-7 Toward Indigenous-Led Climate Governance: Designing a Massachusetts Indigenous Climate Council

Session: Indigenous Teaching and Research in the Geosciences: Approaches to Indigenizing Geoscience Across Multiple Contexts

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As the urgency of the climate crisis accelerates, the need to integrate Indigenous climate governance into U.S. policy becomes increasingly apparent. While Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK) is gaining recognition, the systems of Indigenous environmental governance that inform and contextualize that knowledge remain underutilized. This work explores the design and establishment of a Massachusetts Indigenous Climate Council (MICC) as a model for advancing Indigenous governance alongside Western environmental systems. Massachusetts, despite its leadership in climate policy and clean energy innovation, references Indigenous peoples only twice in its current Climate Action Plan. Drawing on participatory action research (PAR) principles, we argue that the process of creating a MICC must center Indigenous voices and leadership from the outset. We present three possible governance models for such a council—Indigenous-led, state-led with Indigenous input, and a hybrid co-governance approach—drawing on case studies from the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), the Arctic Council, and the Whanganui River settlement in Aotearoa New Zealand. Each model is evaluated for its potential to enhance climate equity, institutional legitimacy, and power-sharing, while highlighting challenges related to funding, representation, and colonial dynamics. Ultimately, Massachusetts is proposed as a strategic site for piloting this work, with the potential to inspire similar initiatives across other states. Establishing Indigenous Climate Councils nationwide could support a coalition of localized, justice-centered climate responses rooted in Indigenous governance, sovereignty, and knowledge.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-9484

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