Local studies provide a global perspective of the impacts of climate change on Indigenous Peoples and local communities

Author(s): Victoria Reyes-García, David García-Del-Amo, Anna Porcuna-Ferre, Anna Schlingmann, Mariam Abazeri, Emmanuel M. N. A. N. Attoh, Julia Vieira da Cunha Ávila, Ayansina Ayanlade, Daniel Babai, Petra Benyei, Laura Calvet-Mir, Rosario Carmona, Julián Caviedes, Jane Chah, Rumbidzayi Chakauya, Aida Cuní-Sanchez, Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, Eranga K. Galappaththi, Drew Gerkey, Sonia Graham, Théo Guillerminet, Tomás Huanca, José Tomás Ibarra, André B. Junqueira, Xiaoyue Li, Yolanda López-Maldonado, Giulia Mattalia, Aibek Samakov, Christoph Schunko, Reinmar Seidler, Victoria Sharakhmatova, Priyatma Singh, Adrien Tofighi-Niaki, Miquel Torrents-Ticó, LICCI Consortium
Abstract: Indigenous Peoples and local communities with nature-dependent livelihoods are disproportionately affected by climate change impacts, but their experience, knowledge and needs receive inadequate attention in climate research and policy. Here, we discuss three key findings of a collaborative research consortium arising from the Local Indicators of Climate Change Impacts project. First, reports of environmental change by Indigenous Peoples and local communities provide holistic, relational, placed-based, culturally-grounded and multi-causal understandings of change, largely focused on processes and elements that are relevant to local livelihoods and cultures. These reports demonstrate that the impacts of climate change intersect with and exacerbate historical effects of socioeconomic and political marginalization. Second, drawing on rich bodies of inter-generational knowledge, Indigenous Peoples and local communities have developed context-specific responses to environmental change grounded in local resources and strategies that often absorb the impacts of multiple drivers of change. Indigenous Peoples and local communities adjust in diverse ways to impacts on their livelihoods, but the adoption of responses often comes at a significant cost due to economic, political, and socio-cultural barriers operating at societal, community, household, and individual levels. Finally, divergent understandings of change challenge generalizations in research examining the human dimensions of climate change. Evidence from Indigenous and local knowledge systems is context-dependent and not always aligned with scientific evidence. Exploring divergent understandings of the concept of change derived from different knowledge systems can yield new insights which may help prioritize research and policy actions to address local needs and priorities.
Organisation(s): Department of Geography and Regional Research
External organisation(s): Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona , Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), University of Miami, International Water Management Institute, Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development, National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Universidad de Magallanes, University of Nigeria, University of South Africa (UNISA), University of York, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, University of Helsinki, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University , Oregon State University, University of Wollongong, UMR AGAP, Centro Boliviano de Desarrollo Socio Integral (CBIDSI), Indigenous Science, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, University of Massachusetts Boston, University of Northern Iowa, University of Fiji
Journal: Sustainable Earth Reviews
Publication date: 01-2024
Peer reviewed: Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012: 507002 Population geography
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 13 - Climate Action
Portal url: https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/d07c082d-9c29-49ed-802f-81c32b140792

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