Socioeconomic Community Vulnerability Index Data from Riverbank Erosion Study in Alaska’s Yukon River Watershed (2022–2026)

The overarching goal of the NNA (Navigating the New Arctic) collaborative project: Developing capacity for planning and adapting to riverbank erosion and its consequences in the Yukon River Basin was to develop capacity for planning and adapting to riverbank erosion and its consequences in the Yukon River basin. Despite the enormous challenge posed by bank erosion and its societal impact, we conducted the study to understand how erosion will respond to warming, how the ensuing biogeochemical processes will affect water quality, and how communities will adapt to these changes. In order to develop effective risk mitigation strategies for adaptation planning, local communities and regional institutions need to know the spectrum and probability of risks associated with changing environmental processes. This dataset from the social science component of the project includes publicly available data on key socioeconomic indicators for Yukon River Watershed communities. The data were used to construct a vulnerability index that characterizes socioeconomic adaptive capacity of Yukon River basin communities.