Sec. 2. Findings

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Congress finds the following: The United States is an Arctic nation with— an approximately 700-mile border on the Arctic Ocean; more than 100,000,000 acres of land above the Arctic Circle; and an even broader area that is defined as Arctic by temperature, including the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. The Arctic region of the United States— is known to the indigenous population as Inuvikput, or the place where we live ; and is home to an indigenous population that has subsisted for millennia on the abundance of marine mammals, fish, and wildlife, many species of which are unique to the Arctic region.

Since 1959, temperatures in the Arctic region of the United States have warmed by 3 to 4 degrees Celsius, a rate of increase more than twice the global average. The Arctic ice pack is rapidly diminishing and thinning, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates the Arctic Ocean may be ice free during the summer months in as few as 30 years. These changes are having a significant impact on the communities and ecosystems of the indigenous people of the Arctic, and the marine mammals, fish, and wildlife upon which the indigenous population depends.

The negative impacts of climate change include health problems, which are even more exacerbated among indigenous people of the North. Northern people have shorter life expectancy and increased mortality related to suicide and injuries, when compared to populations living in more moderate climates. Among the greatest health disparities affecting Arctic people are higher rates of alcohol abuse, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), diabetes, high blood pressure, injury, and cancer.

The FASD prevalence rate among Alaska Native people (4.8) is 3 1/2 times that for all Alaskans (1.4). Rates of suicide in Alaska are among the highest in the Nation, with the suicide rate among Alaska Native people about 3 times that of non-Native Alaskans and 4 times that of the national average of the United States. Alaska Native children are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than Alaskans of other races, 25.7 percent compared to 10.9 percent. It is unclear why many of these health problems are greater among northern people or whether the health problems are related to toxic influences, socioeconomic status, cultural change, distance from sophisticated medical care, or other factors.

More research is necessary into the causes of disparities in rates of particular public health problems in the Arctic and intervention into the prevention and treatment of these problems.