From Beaufort to Bering Seas: Analyzing Relationships of Communication and Risk-sharing in Anticipation of Increased Hydrocarbon Traffic off Alaska’s Northern Coasts

This report represents findings from the Networked Interests, Institutions, and Legacies on Arctic Alaska Shores (NIILAAS) Project, which analyzed changes in institutions of coastal resource governance in Arctic Alaska over a period of 47 years, from the passage of the Alaska Coastal Management Act in 1977 to the present. Using qualitative methods and grounding the investigation in the methodological tenets of Institutional Analysis and Design (IAD) and Social-Environmental Network Analysis (SENA), we mapped substantial transformations in the configuration of governance bodies; the distribution of rights and authorities; and the character of diverse approaches to the use, development, and exploitation of coastal areas of the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas. We find that the Alaska Coastal Management Program (ACMP) evinced three distinct institutional periods: the first consisting of program development and relationship-building; the second of robust collaboration among federal, state, and local interests; and the third of dilution and centralization by the State of Alaska. Regarding the landscape of coastal management today, we find significantly lower metrics of communication and coordination across the Arctic coast and less comprehensive approaches by all actors to the coastal zone as a whole. Whether for the development of coastal resources or enhancing community resilience to climate change impacts, current programs in the region are unevenly distributed, subject to complex ownership and jurisdictional boundaries, driven by unprecedented security concerns, and limited in their capacity to sustainably empower local communities in decision-making over their homelands and waters.

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2022-10-01 → 2024-09-30