The Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (SW CASC) Completes a Successful Tribal Climate Resilience Webinar Series
The Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (SW CASC) recently concluded the inaugural 2025 Tribal Climate Resilience Webinar Series. The popular webinars were led by the Southwest Tribal Climate Resilience Liaisons, in partnership with the South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (SC CASC) Tribal Climate Engagement Program team. This monthly series ran from February to August and provided attendees with an opportunity to learn about the basics of climate change, and how the frameworks of climate adaptation and resilience can help plan for a changing world. The goal of the series was to uplift voices of Tribal professionals and others who work in collaboration with Tribal Nations.
Planning for this series took place throughout the fall of 2024 and included identifying relevant topics and guest speakers, with collaboration from consortium, federal, state, and Tribal partners. Topics ranged from creating vulnerability assessments and climate adaptation plans, to securing funding and sharing best practices. Guest speakers featured in the series included Tribal environmental and natural resources professionals, Tribal environmental non-profit organizations, and scientists and adaptation specialists from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASCs), and consortium universities.
Each session welcomed an average of 93 participants, with one webinar drawing almost 200 attendees. The webinars featured a robust range of audience participation activities such as breakout groups, live polling, word cloud exercises, and thoughtful Q&A sessions. Attendees were primarily from governmental (32% of attendees), nonprofit (22.2%) and academic (22%) institutions, but private citizens, businesses, and members of international organizations also attended.
Webinar recordings are available here. The Southwest Tribal Climate Resilience Liaisons express gratitude and thanks to the presenters, partners, and most importantly, the attendees for all of their engagement.
How to Get Involved
With this year’s success, the SW CASC is anticipating the release of a 2026 Tribal Climate Webinar Series, with deep dives into topics such as water, fire, food sovereignty, infrastructure and data sovereignty. If you are interested in being a part of the planning effort for the next round of the series, being featured as a guest speaker, or would like to suggest that a specific topic be included, please reach out to Anissa or Cynthia by completing this form and they will schedule a meeting to further discuss ideas.