Traditional knowledge & climate science toolkit

• Main Authors: Williams, Citt, Galloway McLean, Kirsty, Raygorodetsky, Gleb, Ramos-Castillo, Ameyali, Barrett, Brendan
• Language: unknown
• Published: United Nations University 2013
• Subjects: Arctic; Climate change
• Online Access: http://collections.unu.edu/view/UNU:1500

Indigenous communities have long, multi-generational histories of interaction with the environment that include coping with variability, uncertainty and change. However, climate-induced impacts on their territories and communities are anticipated to be both early and severe due to their location in vulnerable habitats, including small islands, high altitude zones, desert margins and the circumpolar Arctic. Climate change poses a direct threat to many indigenous societies due to their continuing reliance upon resource-based livelihoods. At the same time, resilience in the face of a changing environment is embedded in indigenous knowledge and know-how, diversified resources and livelihoods, social institutions and networks, and cultural values and attitudes. Attentiveness to environmental variability, shifts and trends is an integral part of indigenous ways of life. Community-based and local knowledge may offer valuable insights on climate-induced changes, and complement broader-scale scientific research with local precision and nuance. Indigenous societies have elaborated coping strategies to deal with unstable environments, and in some cases, are already actively adapting to early climate change impacts. While the transformations due to climate change are expected to be unprecedented, indigenous knowledge and coping strategies provide a crucial foundation for community-based adaptation measures. This toolkit provides access to articles, videos and various other resources that will assist indigenous peoples, local communities, policymakers and other stakeholders in accessing research on climate change adaptation and mitigation