There is emerging evidence of the important role of indigenous knowledge for climate change adaptation. The necessity to consider different knowledge systems in climate change research has been ...established in the fifth assessment report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). However, gaps in author expertise and inconsistent assessment by the IPCC lead to a regionally heterogeneous and thematically generic coverage of the topic. We conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed academic literature to support better integration of the existing and emerging research on indigenous knowledge in IPCC assessments. The research question underpinning this scoping review is: How is evidence of indigenous knowledge on climate change adaptation geographically and thematically distributed in the peer-reviewed academic literature? As the first systematic global evidence map of indigenous knowledge in the climate adaptation literature, the study provides an overview of the evidence of indigenous knowledge for adaptation across regions and categorises relevant concepts related to indigenous knowledge and their contexts in the climate change literature across disciplines. The results show knowledge clusters around tropical rural areas, subtropics, drylands, and adaptation through planning and practice and behavioural measures. Knowledge gaps include research in northern and central Africa, northern Asia, South America, Australia, urban areas, and adaptation through capacity building, as well as institutional and psychological adaptation. This review supports the assessment of indigenous knowledge in the IPCC AR6 and also provides a basis for follow-up research, e.g. bibliometric analysis, primary research of underrepresented regions, and review of grey literature.
Intense agricultural activities are performed in the Ebro River Delta (NE Spain) with extensive use of pesticides. Medium to highly polar pesticides have not been studied intensively in sediments ...despite its larger use in the recent years. This work aimed at assessing the occurrence of 69 pesticides, including medium to highly polar compounds, in sediments collected from drainage and irrigation channels of the Ebro River Delta during the main rice growing season. In addition, an environmental risk assessment was performed to evaluate the potential adverse effects to sediment-dwelling organisms with the risk quotient approach. A total of 24 pesticides were detected in sediments with bentazone and cypermethrin exhibiting high detection frequencies (79%) as well as high mean concentration levels (61.9 and 81.8 ng g−1 dw, respectively). Overall, the Alfacs bay, in the South of the delta, presented higher pesticide contamination than the Fangar bay, in the North. A similar pesticide distribution profile was observed in both bays, with oxadiazoles, organochlorines, pyrethroids, benzothiazinones and organophosphates as major, predominant classes. The presence of oxadiazon, pendimethalin and thifensulfuron methyl in the sediments may pose a moderate risk to sediment-dwelling organisms while bentazone, chlorpyrifos, and cypermethrin exhibited a potential high risk. Thus, the importance of the inclusion of medium to highly polar pesticides in the analysis of sediments is emphasized since some polar pesticides such as bentazone, imidacloprid, and thifensulfuron-methyl have been detected at concentrations that may pose a risk to aquatic organisms. Moreover, the co-occurrence of pesticides may potentially pose a high risk to sediment-dwelling organisms in 13 out of the 14 investigated locations. Finally, it could be concluded that the risk derived from the presence of pesticides in sediments must be assessed since some pesticides not detected at concerning levels in water, may pose a moderate/high risk in the sediments.
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•Twenty-four of 69 pesticides were detected in sediments from Ebro River Delta.•Bentazone and cypermethrin exhibited high levels and detection frequencies.•Alfacs bay presented higher pesticide contamination than the Fangar bay.•Detected pesticides may pose a moderate/high risk to sediment-dwelling organisms.•Co-occurrence of pesticides may pose a high risk in 13 of 14 investigated locations.
Abstract
Climate-related risks in Central and South America have received increased attention and concern in science and policy, but an up-to-date comprehensive review and synthesis of risks and ...adaptation potential is currently missing. For this paper we evaluated over 200 peer-reviewed articles and grey literature documents published since 2012. We found that climate change in Central and South America during the 21st century may increase the risk to severe levels for the following topical risk clusters: (a) Food insecurity; (b) Floods and landslides; (c) Water scarcity; (d) Epidemics of vector-borne diseases; (e) Amazon Forest biome shift; (f). Coral bleaching; (g) Coastal risks of sea level rise, storm surges and erosion; (h) Systemic failure due to cascading impacts of hazards and epidemics. Our synthesis also identified feasible adaptation measures for each risk. The impacts of the risks will be heterogeneous throughout the region, with rural communities, Indigenous peoples, Afro-Latin Americans, women, disabled people, and migrants identified as being the most severely affected. We refer to a number of adaptation options for each risk. However, unabated climate change together with low adaptive capacity will strictly limit adaptation options. Immediate strengthening of policies for building adaptive capacity and increase of research on the risk-adaptation nexus in Central and South America are paramount. Our findings might contribute to guide the adjustment and emphasis of adaptation policies and climate risk management strategies from local to national level.
The health of soil, a fundamental resource for life on Earth, is severely compromised by global environmental change. Evidence shows that the knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and local communities ...influences sustainable land management, hence the importance of understanding Indigenous soil classification. Using a participatory approach, we conducted semistructured interviews, focus groups, and collective mapping of soils in 4 Aymara communities of the Bolivian Altiplano. We found that families in the 4 communities organize their territory in homogenous zones, based upon characteristics perceivable by sight, touch, smell, and taste. The description and meaning of the zones refer to characteristics such as location, soil color, preferred land use, and topography. We argue that homogenous zones are kaleidoscopic and polysemic units of spatial organization of the Aymara territory. Each meaning conveyed is like a face of a kaleidoscope and refers to different features of the zone. They are polysemic because the descriptions of the zones refer to multiple elements of different kinds (eg color and fertility). Indigenous and local knowledge of soils has coevolved with thousands of years of Altiplano farming, leading to prescriptive and flexible homogenous zones of sustainable land management. These knowledge systems and the cultures they belong to constitute crucial elements for generating knowledge supporting transitions to sustainability.
The study aimed to assess the occurrence and the environmental risk of a group of 51 selected pesticides in the Guadiana Basin (a biodiversity hotspot, in the Mediterranean). The most abundant ...pesticides were bentazone and 2,4-D, while terbuthylazine together with terbutryn constituted the most ubiquitous pesticides. Eighteen out of the 38 pesticides detected are no longer approved in Europe, and 5 of them are included in the list of priority substances. The risk assessment showed that azinphos ethyl, diflufenican, irganol, imidacloprid, and oxadiazon occurred occasionally, but always in concentrations above their respective ecotoxicological threshold value. Contrary, bentazone, terbuthylazine, and terbutryn presented a high risk in most of the sampled locations and periods.
The site-specific risk assessment showed a spatial and temporal pattern, with a higher risk occurring mainly in intermittent streams, in the drought period. The presence of pesticides banned from the EU market since 2009 showed the importance of improving the monitoring process, to identify the main sources of pollution and the fate of these emerging compounds. The results showed the need of implementing actions to improve the sustainable use of pesticides in agricultural areas, working with farmers and management entities to reduce the contamination of aquatic ecosystems. Transboundary water governance is also required to solve potential transboundary contamination problems.
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•Drought enhanced the impact of pesticides in the ecosystems of Guadiana Basin.•Quantified 23 European banned pesticides in the Guadiana Basin.•Of the 38 pesticides detected, 32 may have induced risk to aquatic species.•Bentazone, Terbutryn, Terbuthylazine, Chlorfenvinphos, Diazinon with high risk•Greater risk in the streams of the Guadiana Basin than in the Alqueva reservoir
Pastoral social-ecological systems worldwide are threatened by environmental, climatic, and socioeconomic changes. The magnitude of these threats and their impacts is higher in mountain ...social-ecological systems. This study analyzes how mountain pastoralists in Lotkuh Valley (Chitral, Pakistan) use their rangelands in changing social, environmental, and climatic contexts. Data were collected from a survey, focus groups, and observations through multistage stratified sampling and extensive fieldwork (2016–2019). The findings reveal that the strategy adopted by mountain pastoralists combines 7 different grazing mechanisms and stall feeding to use spatially segregated and seasonally productive rangeland resources in a sustainable manner. These seasonal mechanisms involve different types of livestock mobility, diverse fodder consumption, and grazing patterns. In winter, livestock are kept in stalls near the village. During spring, sheep and goats are taken to nearby low-lying pastures and meadows on a rotation basis. In summer, livestock and people move away from the village to settlements along a 3000 m elevational range to graze on the available pastures. Finally, in autumn, as the livestock descend, they browse intensively on stubble fields before the winter crops are planted. Furthermore, this strategy is based on the coordination of households' available labor force and pasture readiness. This study provides nuanced information on mountain pastoralists and rangeland management systems. The findings are useful for policymakers and practitioners in designing effective programs and policies to decrease the vulnerability and enhance the resilience of mountain social-ecological systems.
The global implications of a rapidly diminishing Cryosphere urge a human-centered framework to address the sustainability and equity concerns arising from impacts of cryospheric change and economic ...development. This more inclusive paradigm would enable research and policy approaches premised on causalities, historical injustices, and needs for enhancing the resilience of and for indigenous peoples and smallholders. This framework will need to reconsider what human dimensions can be added to current biophysical monitoring, including evaluations of infrastructure, land and marine resources, institutions, and policies. It should facilitate the sharing of data and lived experiences of people affected by and interacting with social-ecological systems with less sea ice, glaciers, and snow cover.
The impacts of both climate change and socioeconomic processes are driving the degradation of mountains and the ecological services they provide worldwide. In the tropical Andes, compounding glacier ...retreat, altered hydrological and precipitation regimes (eg off-season alternation of extreme dry and wet periods), and expansion of mining and other land uses are modifying hydrological services. Although initiatives to restore ecosystems and their services are increasing, conceptual models emerging from experiences on the ground are scarce. Based upon the experience of Peru’s National Institute for Research on Glaciers and Mountain Ecosystems (INAIGEM) in the Piuray Ccorimarca microbasin (Cusco) in combining participatory action research and experiments at the plot scale, this article elaborates a conceptual model for the rehabilitation of hydrological services on the social–ecological systems of puna grassland. The model proposes multiscale (plot–pilot–microbasin) rehabilitation. At each level, the actions proposed include designing plots, selecting sites, implementing restoration activities, and evaluating and monitoring the sites. Our inductive model from the ground and plot can inform rehabilitation of hydrological services on puna grasslands elsewhere.
•Climate change and capitalism may render pastoral social-ecological systems extinct.•Pastoral institutions mediate decision-making and are crucial to adaptive responses.•Flexibility characterizes ...pastoralists’ decision-making under global change.•Rangeland commodification and policies reduce pastoralists’ flexibility by shrinking grazing areas and mobility routes.•Intertwined effects of climate change and capitalism on pastoralism need local-global research.•Inter-and-intra communal tensions may arise as pastoralists respond to social-environmental changes.
The independent and synergic impacts of climatic change and capitalist expansion may render pastoral social-ecological systems extinct. Climatic change compromises rangelands, while economic development fosters conversion of pastoral land into territories for capitalist expansion. Pastoralists’ institutions regulate decision-making to socio-environmental change and shape adaptive responses, enabling mobile livestock rearing for using multiple grazing areas, and households’ diverse income sources. These institutions are characterized by flexibility, such as mixed individual-collective water and land tenure regimes. However, capitalist-led reduction of land-based resources, the push for privatization and commodification of land and livestock hinder flexibility, and undermine pastoralists’ institutions for decision-making; ultimately creating challenges for pastoralists’ adaptive capacity. Research on the compound effects of the expanding global economy and climate change on pastoral social-ecological systems is needed to inform efforts constraining unregulated capitalist expansion, and policies for water and land security. Research, practice, and policies will improve pastoral social-ecological systems adaptability and resilience.
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