A “worst case scenario” is fast developing for Native Americans of the Mississippi Delta as rising sea levels put their homes as well as their irreplaceable heritage in danger, thanks to climate change.
According to Shirell Parfait-Dardar, Chief of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians in Dulac, Louisiana, this situation has evolved over time not overnight. Oil and gas extraction from the Gulf Coast, climate change, canal construction, and the rerouting of the Mississippi River and its land-building floods away from other delta areas have made the loss of land inevitable.
Rising sea levels and the subsidence of the Mississippi Delta are causing large swaths of land to turn first into marsh, then open water, leaving narrow strands of land barely above the muddy waters, and causing a “laced doily” effect when seen from the air.
“It can be a bit deceiving. It’s absolutely beautiful here,” said Parfait-Dardar of what people see from the roads. “You can still see some trees in spots. But I’m on a sliver of land. Everything has changed.”
Tribal members of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians from Parfait-Dardar live approximately 27 kilometres from the coast, but the community has been losing land at an average of 1% per annum between 1974 and 1990, according to previous research. More recent analysis has shown that subsidence rates in the Dulac area average 12.5 millimetres per annum, which is among the highest in southern Louisiana.
It has got so bad that Fields and woodlands that tribal members wandered as children now have to be traversed by boat, and areas that were never flooded before are now flooded regularly even without there being a storm in the area.
Relocating is not an easy option for these tribal members, especially the elders, as ties to traditional ways of life are strong and hard to leave behind. Relocation also requires financial resources that are beyond the reach of many tribal members.
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