Climate Change and Threatened Communities

by Castro, A. Peter; Taylor, Dan; Brokensha, David W.

• ISBN13: 9781853397257
• ISBN10: 1853397253
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-06-30
• Publisher: Practical Action Pub

Summary

Global climate change disproportionately affects rural people and indigenous groups, but their rights, knowledge, and interests concerning it are generally unacknowledged. Shifts in precipitation, cloud cover, temperature, and other climatic patterns alter their livelihood pursuits and cultural landscapes, accentuating their existing social and economic marginalization. This book argues that planners and researchers of climate change mitigation and adaptation must take into account the knowledge and capacity of rural people, and engage them as active participants in the design and governance of interventions, not as a matter of courtesy, but because it is their right. Furthermore, inclusion of local communities in genuine partnership will likely make climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts more effective.Climate Change and Threatened Communities presents 15 case studies and a variety of approaches to document the capacities and constraints to be encountered among communities facing changing climates in Bangladesh, Cameroon, Canada, Ecuador, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, Peru, South Africa, Sudan, United States, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. It explores human interactions in environments ranging from subarctic tundra to equatorial rain forest, from oceanic lagoons to inland mountains. Chapters investigate issues such as social vulnerability to climatic uncertainty, shifts in livelihood practices, local perceptions of climatic change, and the potential and limitations of the United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries. Authors consider the potential of archaeology, phenomenology, controlled comparisons, historical analysis, gender analysis and other analytical approaches to shed light on the experiences of communities and their members. This book is important reading for policy makers, academics, and students in the fields of climate change adaptation, anthropology and development studies, as well as more general readers.

Author Biography

A. Peter Castro is Associate Professor of Anthropology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. Dan Taylor is the Director of the British NGO Find Your Feet, and Tutor in International Development at the Open University. David W. Brokensha is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Table of Contents

Tables	p. vii
About the editors	p. viii
Introduction	p. 1
Climate change and forest conservation: a REDD flag for Central African forest people?	p. 15
Social vulnerability, climatic variability, and uncertainty in rural Ethiopia: a study of South Wollo and Oromiya Zones of eastern Amhara Region	p. 29
Farmers on the frontline: adaptation and change in Malawi	p. 41
Risk and abandonment, and the meta-narrative of climate change	p. 57
Mobilizing knowledge to build adaptive capacity: lessons from southern Mozambique	p. 69
Climate change and the future of onion and potato production in West Darfur, Sudan: a case study of Zalingei locality	p. 81
Comparing knowledge of and experience with climate change across three glaciated mountain regions	p. 93
Aapuupayuu (the weather warms up): climate change and the Eeyouch (Cree) of northern Quebec	p. 107
'The one who has changed is the person': observations and explanations of climate change in the Ecuadorian Andes	p. 119
Good intentions, bad memories, and troubled capital: American Indian knowledge and action in renewable energy projects	p. 129
Reclaiming the past to respond to climate change: Mayan farmers and ancient agricultural techniques in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico	p. 139
Can we learn from the past? Policy history and climate change in Bangladesh	p. 153
Local perceptions and adaptation to climate change: a perspective from Western India	p. 163
Ethno-ecology in the shadow of rain and the light of experience: local perceptions of drought and climate change in east Sumba, Indonesia	p. 175
Local knowledge and technology innovation in a changing world: traditional fishing communities in Tam Giang Cau Hai lagoon, Vietnam	p. 185
Conclusion: some reflections on indigenous knowledge and climate change	p. 197
Resources	p. 201
Notes	p. 207
Index	p. 211
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