Keywords

Introduction

A Mind Set, a Process: Asserting Voice and Action

Indigenous peoples are not passive victims of climate change and indeed have been adapting in multiple ways to climate change for millennia. As Makondo and Thomas (2018, 89) note: “to Indigenous communities there is nothing new about climate change. These communities have lived with and adapted to it for centuries”. In this chapter we present the ways in which Indigenous peoples have responded to the current challenge of climate change, and we explore the dynamic ways in which Indigenous knowledge is deployed to build adaptive responses. We also present other forms of adaptation which include the development of climate adaptation strategies, knowledge revitalisation and maintenance programs, science partnerships and governance initiatives. At its core, this range of adaptations, show that Indigenous adaptations are more than the application of adaptation content, they reflect a mindset, an adaptation process, one that relies on ages old practice, and that creates spaces for the assertion of contemporary Indigenous voices and agency.

Indigenous Knowledge and Adaptation

The question of how Indigenous peoples can contribute to climate mitigation and adaptation efforts is a core deliberation for Indigenous peoples and policy makers across the world. This is because the perceived capacity of Indigenous knowledge to combat climate change, has created mounting pressure on Indigenous peoples to share their knowledge for the common good (Hill et al. 2020). This is an ambition clearly identified in the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which has established a task force on Indigenous and local knowledge systems to assist in the identification of ways to work with Indigenous and local knowledge to address biodiversity loss and climate change. As it states:

Indigenous peoples and local communities possess detailed knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystem trends. This knowledge is formed through their direct dependence on their local ecosystems, and observations and interpretations of change generated and passed down over many generations, and yet adapted and enriched over time. Indigenous peoples and local communities from around the world often live in remote areas, interacting with nature and managing resources that contribute to society at large…. They are often better placed than scientists to provide detailed information on local biodiversity and environmental change and are important contributors to the governance of biodiversity from local to global levels (IPBES, 2019, 1).

This international recognition of Indigenous knowledge is important as it offers an opportunity for Indigenous peoples across the world to participate in international agencies and programs such as the IPBES. However, while Indigenous knowledge may be important to others, and plays a role in the global quest to redress biodiversity loss, the maintenance of that knowledge also needs active support, with structures put in place to protect Indigenous cultures, territories and knowledges in their own right. Systems need to be put in place to ensure Indigenous knowledge is not appropriated and further damaged (where globalisation and colonisation have already had enormous impacts), and that provision is made for Indigenous peoples to assert their voice within institutions and climate change and adaptation governance regimes and programs.

International Governance

Finding voice is integral to achieving successful adaptation, thus it is unsurprising that given climate change impacts are serious and far reaching, Indigenous peoples have remained staunch in their demands to be part of the decision making about how to respond to the challenges they face. Indigenous peoples are now part of a wide range of international governance agencies and structures concerned with making decisions on a global scale about climate change.

Indigenous approaches to mitigate and adapt to climate change have been articulated for decades with early examples including the Quito Declaration on Climate Change in 2000, the Marrakech Statement on Climate Change from Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Caucus of the Seventh Session of the Conference of the Parties, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2001. These early declarations asserted the need both to recognise Indigenous knowledge and contributions to climate change management, but also the rights to participate in global climate governance.

In 2008 the International Indigenous People’s Forum on Climate Change was established to be a caucus for Indigenous peoples participating in the United Nations Framework for Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC), providing an important avenue for Indigenous voices on climate to be heard. In 2009, Indigenous representatives from all over the world met in Anchorage, Alaska to discuss the impacts of climate change on their peoples, resulting in what is known as the Anchorage Declaration of the Indigenous People’s Global Summit on Climate Change. As noted below (UNFCC, 2009, 1), this declaration highlights the urgency and scale of climate change for them:

We express our solidarity as Indigenous Peoples living in areas that are the most vulnerable to the impacts and root causes of climate change. We reaffirm the unbreakable and sacred connection between land, air, water, oceans, forests, sea ice, plants, animals and our human communities as the material and spiritual basis for our existence. We are deeply alarmed by the accelerating climate devastation brought about by unsustainable development. We are experiencing profound and disproportionate adverse impacts on our cultures, human and environmental health, human rights, well-being, traditional livelihoods, food systems and food sovereignty, local infrastructure, economic viability, and our very survival as Indigenous Peoples. Mother Earth is no longer in a period of climate change, but in climate crisis. We therefore insist on an immediate end to the destruction and desecration of the elements of life.

In 2013, the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change (IIFPCC, 2014, ix) made statements at the 38th sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies to the UNFCCC in Bonn that:

we insist that non-carbon benefits and non-market approaches should be supported in all aspects of the process and should be interconnected with the UNFCCC REDD+ safeguards as agreed to by the Parties in Cancun.

This was followed in 2014, with a statement from International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change (2014, 2) that:

1. Parties shall ensure that Paris agreement respects, protects and fulfils the human rights of Indigenous peoples including their rights to lands, territories and resources as enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples (UNDRIP) and 2. The subsistence livelihoods of Indigenous peoples are key to biodiversity conservation and enhancement, to ensure food security for millions of people, and contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation. Therefore, Indigenous peoples are encouraged to share the good practices of Indigenous agricultural systems in SBSTA discussion on agriculture in its 43rd session.

In 2016, the Paris Climate Change Agreement recognised that Indigenous people must be the part of the solution to climate change. Importantly, in 2018, the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP) was established to build the capacity for engagement of Indigenous peoples and local communities; and to design climate change policies and actions in a manner that respects and promotes the rights and interests of Indigenous peoples and local communities.

In 2019, the Yogyakarta Declaration, a result of a gathering of Indigenous peoples from Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam, made clear statements about the need to recognise Indigenous knowledge systems, food and cultural security and human rights in the context of climate change.

The emergence of these Indigenous voices at the international scale into climate negotiations about mitigation and adaptation is important (Reisinger et al., 2014), and creates key institutional mandates that faciliate Indigenous voices in international governance arrangements and decision making. An ongoing challenge however, is in working out how such high-level activity can be tailored to address local situations where Indigenous peoples can and are adapting to change on the ground.

Local Place and Knowledge-Based Adaptation

In these contexts, Indigenous peoples have been active in applying their knowledge to address the climate impacts they are experiencing in their land and seas. As described earlier in the book, much Indigenous knowledge is based on seasonal observation, and climate change is responsible for a range of seasonal disruptions, which in turn disrupt traditional livelihood practice. However, at the same time, Indigenous knowledge and processes are now being used to help adapt to these changes.

The Inuit for example apply their knowledge about sea ice conditions, weather and wildlife to better understand climate change and how to respond to it (Gearheard et al., 2010; Laidler et al., 2009; Nichols et al., 2004). In Mongolia, local people’s knowledge and observations about climate has been combined with climate science to generate adaptation plans (Marin, 2010). In the Arctic, Indigenous peoples have been documenting their climate histories and knowledge about climate change (e.g. Laidler, 2006; Leduc, 2007; Nickels et al., 2006; Riedlinger & Berkes, 2001; Weatherhead et al., 2010): using that knowledge as a wellspring and spring board for adaptation (Ford et al., 2006, 2008, 2016; Pearce et al., 2015; Reid et al., 2014; Roué, 2018). Indigenous groups in the Andes such as the Charzzani people in the Apolobamba region in Bolivia, have knowledge that helps them to read the weather and understand climate patterns, and thereby adapt to management practices (De la Riva et al. (2013), while in Mexico, the Zoque people have built local climate calendars (Sánchez-Cortés & Chavero, 2018).

For the Yolngu people in Blue Mud Bay, Australia, traditional knowledge is deployed to (re) read the signs in nature and so ensure the keeping of ancestral knowledge (Barber, 2018). At the other end of the world, the Sami have designated 318 noun stems to identify various types of snow which they use as a unique knowledge base to adapt to climate related snow changes (Mathiesen et al., 2018).

Such agency has also been used to generate a wide range of livelihood diversification for many Indigenous peoples. In Nigeria for example, adaptation innovations address current issues by drawing on past practice. Some examples of adaptation include soil and water management, the use of improved/different varieties of crops, planting cover crops like melon, instilling zero tillage, regular weeding, early planting, mulching, use of organic manure and adapting which seeds are selected to plant (Nzeadibe et al., 2012). The Fulani people of Northern Ghana, focus on Indigenous adaptation strategies which create socially just and sustainable ways for herdsmen to maintain their cattle. Strategies include mobility-based strategies, diversification of sources of feed, labour division for meeting differentiated needs of cattle, and stress management in cattle (Napogbong et al., 2021). In Latin America a vast array of adaptation strategies for livelihood diversification are being implemented by multiple local Indigenous peoples. In all these examples, and as Table 3.1 shows, the use and adaptation of the application of local knowledge plays an important role.

Table 3.1 Indigenous livelihood diversification strategies to adaptation in Latin America
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In the Cameroons, where 85% of the local Indigenous peoples rely on agriculture for their survival, context specific agro-pastoral adaptations are also being implemented which include crop diversification and mixed farming (Azibo & Kimengsi, 2015).

For some groups, such as in Iran, more structural solutions are being explored: the Qashquai people have implemented long-term adaptive solutions such as building cement block houses and water storage ponds, as well as making changes to their migration routes and location so they can to cope with the adverse consequences of climate change (Saboohi et al., 2019). In the Chittagong Hill tracts of Bangladesh, the Garo people have similarly implemented more structural climate adaptations (Rahman & Alam, 2016), which collectively help reduce the risk of food security and build community resilience to climate change. Others focus on physical changes to landforms: Cree hunters in Canada for instance have installed adaptations to coastal uplift which have included the construction of mud dykes and the cutting of tuuhiikaan, (which are corridors in the coastal forests), to retain and enhance desirable conditions for goose hunting (Sayles & Mulrennan, 2010).

Overall whether it is the implementation of adaptations to crops, water, soil or technology, the active use of Indigenous knowledge to adapt to climate impacts in these examples underpins all modes of adaptation. These adaptations demonstrate the active and contemporary engagement of that knowledge, in the here and now, to new situations, and highlight the fluidity and adaptability, not just of the knowledge itself, but its capacity to regenerate and renew under new circumstances. In this way, the deployment of knowledge as a process as much as its content reveals the living nature of Indigenous cultures and their ability to navigate and survive enormous change.

The advantage of being ‘on the spot’ and being the repositories of local knowledge and experience, also means that Indigenous peoples have been able to put in context the effect of climate change impacts at the local scale. Their observation of impacts at the local level often correlate with and complement the wider scientific predictions, and enables the generation of more strategically localised responses by both Indigenous peoples and policy makers. Indigenous knowledge in this context becomes a form of place based cultural capital that can help withstand shock and becomes the strength of ongoing cultural life, a source from which adaptation programs can spring. Indigenous knowledge is thus used to inform a continuum of adaptation that integrates management and spirit. Maori led adaptation initiatives in the South Island Hapu, Kati Huirapa demonstrate this fluidity and adaptability. Here the Maori have navigated states of transition in their lands and seas, to integrate management, spirit and ecosystems via continual states of transition and renegotiation (Carter, 2019).

Another example is that of management of traditions around the bowhead whale hunted by the local Inupoaq people in the Arctic which “integrates all elements of Arctic life: that is the seas the land, the animals and humanity. The bowhead remains central to Inupoaq life” (Sakakibara, 2018, 265). In this case, the Inupoaq draw on their cultural strength and ages old cultural practice to build resilience to climate change and in so doing they re-affirm cultural identity, and in strengthening those bonds, use the strength of their past to adjust to the future (Sakakibara, 2018, 267). Case studies from Africa (also see perspective 3.1 below) also show how different peoples use location specific knowledge to combat the effects of climate change (Makondo & Thomas, 2018). As such, Indigenous knowledge is “neither singular nor universal but rather a voluminous, diverse and highlight localised source of wisdom” (Makondo & Thomas, 2018, 73) where “spirituality comprising traditional practices has far reaching benefits in resilience building in many cultures” (Makondo & Thomas, 2018, 85).

Perspective 3.1Climate Change Adaptation in Rural Ghana: Indigenous People as Change Agents?

Gerald Atampugre

Indigenous peoples are key change agents in the fight against climate change in Ghana. An in-depth understanding of the land as well as their ingrained resilience, drawn from their culture and traditional knowledge, means that climate adaptation can be built and succeed at local levels. If Indigenous cultures flourish, climate change adaptation will succeed at the local level.

Ghana’s Indigenous communities and peoples are diverse, span the entire country and are unique in their own right. However, many tend to live in marginal rural environments that are most prone to climate change impacts (e.g. communities along the coast, drylands, etc.) and rely on renewable natural resources for food, cultural practices, and socio-economic activities. They experience higher levels of (non-) climate-related risks compared to other groups and face huge barriers in terms of access to basic livelihood assets (usually they are considered the poorest of the poor, with high gender inequality). Thus, rural Indigenous people in Ghana, like in many other parts of the world, are regarded as victims of climate and other forms of change.

However, Ghanaian Indigenous cultures and traditional knowledge is resilient and adaptive and has already survived several decades of anthropogenic-induced climate and environmental change. Collectively held knowledge of the sea, land and sky, means rural Indigenous Peoples are exceptional observers and interpreters of changes in climate and their surrounding environment. This accumulated knowledge offers invaluable insights, complementing scientific data with context-specific details that provide a crucial foundation for adaptation and the building of resilience in indigenous households and communities.

Indigenous people in Ghana are not passive victims and relative to other groups, they possess unique characteristics that make them important agents for sustainable climate adaptation in Ghana. One such attribute is the fact that they share a complex religious-cultural relationship with the natural resources they depend on for their livelihood endeavours. Indigenous Knowledge Systems protect the natural environment on which they derive their productive assets and incomes (e.g. fruits, mushrooms, bush meat, fish, roots, medicine and construction materials, etc.). For instance, for the Bonos people in forest areas (an Indigenous tribe in Bono East Region of Ghana), physical and spiritual survival is dependent on the depth of their connection with nature i.e. the forests/mangroves and water bodies that are the abodes of their gods and ancestors.

Consequently, there are particular days in the week no one is allowed to enter the forest/mangrove (for timber, firewood, farming purposes or any purpose) or go to the stream/river for water or fishing. These practices support the replenishment of natural resources and biodiversity, leading to improved ecological services. Further, Indigenous ecological knowledge underpins environmental stewardship strategies in rural communities in Ghana. In these rural settings, customary law is recognised and enforced. Over the years, these Indigenous rules and regulations have helped, to some extent, to ameliorate local development and means that communities can withstand, recover from, and adapt to risks.

The unique nature of traditional knowledge and cultural approaches among indigenous people in Ghana thus situates them as important change agents today. To reduce maladaptation and adaptation deficits among Indigenous People in Ghana, the current planned neoliberal top-down adaptation approaches must shift to acknowledge autonomous Indigenous adaptation strategies as building blocks to, and not ‘other’ strategies. A solid understanding and policy incorporation of Indigenous adaptation practices in Ghana presents an opportunity for a re-evaluation of existing knowledge to enhance context-specific climate change adaptation.

Knowledges Working Together

The development of knowledge partnerships is another way in which Indigenous knowledge can provide place-based information that science alone cannot achieve. The development of partnerships also provides an opportunity for Indigenous peoples to become equitably involved in adaptation projects, from their inception through to delivery, thus maximising Indigenous voices and agency, and often enabling employment. The establishment of partnerships can also redress inequalities in power relations, where Indigenous peoples may be historically under-represented (Wheeler et al., 2020).

Indigenous peoples are already leading such knowledge collaborations with scientists and policy makers, with examples in the Arctic (Pennesi et al., 2012), the Asian Highlands (Xu & Grumbine, 2014) and Africa (Grey et al., 2020) to name a few. A specific example in the Kw Zulu Natal (Basdew et al., 2017) in Africa combines Indigenous and Western scientific knowledge and seasonal (Indigenous farming) indicators in the Swayimane Mshwathi Munupyu region, Kwa Zulu in South Africa to ensure farming resilience. In another African example, farmers in Malawi have been using Indigenous knowledge for centuries to help them predict and understand weather patterns and hence make decisions about farming. However, given that climate change is destabilising the certainty of that knowledge, they are now also working with scientists to help them predict future weather events and build their resilience via the integration of both knowledge systems to adapt to climate change (Kalanda-Joshua et al., 2011). In Vietnam, the Yao people use their Indigenous knowledge about native crop varieties and animal breeds, weather forecasting, and the timing and location of cultivation practices, both on its own and with science to build resilience to climate impacts (Son et al., 2019).

Indigenous groups across Australia are also working on knowledge partnerships with scientists and governments to re-introduce fire burning as a cultural adaptation strategy. Fire burning was traditionally used to help establish and maintain hunting grounds, to crack rocks, to create tools and weapons, to maintain trade routes, keep travel corridors open, clear water ways and to ensure seed germination. For example, in the State of Victoria, the local Gunditjmara people collaborate with staff from the Forest Fire Management Section of the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, and the Victorian Country Fire Authority, to undertake cultural fire management as part of an overall fire management plan for the Budj Bim National Park (Commonwealth of Australia, 2020). In so doing they assist with fuel reduction. In Australia this is important: as increases in the frequency and intensity of bush fires is predicted, the reduction of fuel load is needed to reduce the risk and likelihood of catastrophic fires while enabling Indigenous peoples to look after and sustain their traditional country (Commonwealth of Australia, 2020).

Such collaborations are growing in number and strength across the world, and while these are just a few examples they reflect some of the diversity and possibilities for partnerships that can offer two-way benefits and learning if resourced and implemented appropriately.

Plans and Strategies

The development of specific adaptation plans and policies, both Indigenous led and undertaken in partnership with others is another adaptation option increasingly trialled by Indigenous groups. In these plans, Indigenous peoples not only offer their knowledge, but also assert/embed their own forms of cultural governance and agency, in turn assuring they are culturally resonant and have currency with their own people.

In the United States, multiple First Nations peoples have created and are implementing place-based adaptation plans, and Chap. 4 provides a detailed description of many of these initiatives. In Australia, both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have prepared adaptation strategies. The Arabana people, from south central Australia for example, have developed an adaptation strategy that identifies adaptation as something that is wider than climate. The Arabana people seek not only to address climate change but position adaptation as a form of healing from colonisation. Adaptation is presented as an opportunity to address past injustices, and to build economic livelihoods as part of the adaptation process. The Arabana also offered a range of insights for policy makers and planners in relation to what may be specific factors worth inclusion in Indigenous adaptation plans (Box 3.1 below).

Box 3.1 Criteria for Inclusion in Indigenous Adaptation Plans

  1. 1.

    Acknowledge that adaptation in Indigenous contexts cannot be extricated from the history of colonisation.

  2. 2.

    When conducting assessments and adaptation, find ways of integrating both the vulnerability of people and the vulnerability of country.

  3. 3.

    Embed justice and equity in all adaptation options and policy.

  4. 4.

    Recognise that adaptation needs to incorporate the lived reality of Indigenous peoples, that they live in urban as well as remote places, adaptation policy needs to integrate place and scale.

  5. 5.

    Document and identify other drivers or agents of change such as mining, and their impact on and implications for adaptation policy and planning.

  6. 6.

    Integrate knowledge sets. Integration is not just about integrating science and knowledge but also re-vitalising knowledge and acknowledging history and memory as a form of knowledge.

  7. 7.

    Co-design adaptation in ways that will assist building community capacity.

  8. 8.

    Develop communications about climate change not only at the local scale; Indigenous people can engage with international dimensions.

  9. 9.

    Ensure flexible governance arrangements that facilitate coexistence between formal and informal and traditional and Western laws and mores thus assisting effective development and implementation of adaptation.

  10. 10.

    Build a trans-disciplinary approach into research.

In the Torres Strait, (which is a group of islands off the top of Australia), sea level rise and migration are active considerations. To address these issues an adaptation strategy has been developed which embeds traditional knowledge as the cornerstone for adaptation, with a commitment to work with government agencies and others to develop evidence-based adaptations for people, the environment and settlements. Relocation is stated as being a last resort (TSRA, 2014).

These are just a few examples of many Indigenous led adaptation plans, but they illustrate how Indigenous leadership can galvanise action across communities, even when, as a result of colonisation, they may be geographically dispersed as a people.

Training and Education Programs

Indigenous peoples have also created innovative and dynamic forums by which they communicate climate change both within their own communities but also to educate policy makers, scientists and others. These forums include the development of digital platforms, training tools, web sites and various education and awareness programs. In Canada for example (see Box 3.2 below), there are a range of communication resources available to assist Indigenous peoples to adapt to climate change.

Box 3.2 Communication Resources to Assist Indigenous Adaptation in Canada

  • Indigenous Climate Hub: This web site seeks to provide a platform to Indigenous peoples across Canada to share their climate change experiences and stories. It is led by Indigenous peoples and provides resources and tools for others seeking to build adaptation programs

  • Climate Change Adaptation Planning Toolkit For Indigenous Communities - Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources

    This is another Canadian resource that provides the following: (i) Indigenous Climate Change Adaptation Guidance document, (ii) Climate Change Adaptation Planning Guidebooks for Indigenous Communities, (iii) Indigenous Languages Glossary Workbook and (iv) Two Indigenous Language Glossaries, all designed to assist with adaptation planning https://yourcier.org/

  • Retooling for Climate Change: a site providing a compendium of resources that include adaptation tools and resources for Indigenous Nations, local governments and others to prepare for the impacts of climate change https://retooling.ca/

  • Plan2Adapt: This is a tool for generating maps, plots, and data describing projected future climate conditions for regions throughout British Columbia and assists Indigenous peoples to assess climate change in their region based on a standard set of climate model projections. https://toolkit.bc.ca/tool/plan2adapt/

In Bali, Indonesia, climate field schools have enabled the delivery of adaptation actions for local farmers, where agriculture is the main form of livelihood and is threatened by climate change (Biskupska & Salamanca, 2020). Several other adaptation projects also showcase diverse modes of communication as Indigenous peoples try to engage their own people in understanding and responding to climate change. One of these, the Indigenous Youth Climate Art Contest, launched by Fraser Council, in British Columbia, asked Indigenous youth to submit art pieces that showed one or more of the following elements:-

  • Valuing and protecting the land and water

  • Connecting with and honouring Indigenous knowledge

  • Celebrating community and personal resilience

  • Understanding impacts to self, community and nations

  • Exploring key challenges

  • Self-determination

  • Innovative responses to climate change.

This competition successfully engaged young Indigenous individuals to create images of climate change but also to learn about it. The artwork from this contest was then showcased in Canada’s 2020 national assessment report on climate change titled Canada in a Changing Climate, and also helped educate the wider public about Indigenous perspective on and how they were affected by climate change. Another initiative called SEED, is an Australian Indigenous Youth Network that represents an alliance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island young people who seek climate justice alongside the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. They run campaigns and disseminate their activities via a dynamic web site.

Indigenous Climate Action also provides a comprehensive set of resources, podcasts, activities and resources that support Indigenous peoples the world over to combat climate change. It does so via four pathways - gatherings, resources and tools, amplifying voices and Indigenous sovereignty. In their website, they have an ‘amplifying voices’ section which provides a comprehensive array of reports and documents which assert and document Indigenous perspectives on key issues. One report for example, is of a youth assessment, which outlines youth views and aspirations relating to climate change, giving voice to Indigenous youth in ways not usually possible in wider forums.

Influencers and Drivers Affecting Indigenous Adaptation

As we have shown, Indigenous peoples across the world, are being active change agents and are building climate adaptations in diverse ways. Yet, climate adaptation is not a homogenous exercise, and in attempting to implement adaptation of various kinds, there are also a range of challenges and barriers, often external non climate related stressors, that may prevent their effective implementation. As we showed in Chap. 2, any discussion of climate impacts cannot be separated from how they in turn interweave with the legacy of colonisation. But for some Indigenous peoples, one of the most significant factors affecting their capacity to adapt is also the way in which Indigenous ways of being and knowing have been impacted by forms of globalisation which drive a variety of external non-climate related stressors that affect Indigenous peoples. Given its impacts include the appropriation/extraction of land and culture and often enduring socio-economic disadvantage, globalisation is a process that has been constructed by many as a different type of colonisation. As such, globalisation as much as colonisation remains an active agent in the navigation of climate adaptation in Indigenous worlds. The complex way in which colonisation, globalisation and climate change interact is illustrated in the perspective below, where forms of (colonially derived) extractive violence hinder the capacity for Sámi reindeer herders to adapt over time.

Perspective 3.2 Sámi Reindeer Herding, Extractivism and Climate Change

Kristina Sehlin MacNeil and Niila Inga

Climate change is often spoken of as something that will happen, for reindeer herding Sámi communities it is something that is happening and that already has been happening for many years. Indigenous communities, living in close connection with their lands and environments, are at the frontier when the effects of climate change are felt. Today, climate change affects Sámi reindeer herding in direct and destructive ways, so much so that some communities find it difficult to see a future for their livelihoods.

Sámi people are the Indigenous people of Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. Sápmi is the name of the Sámi homeland which covers parts of these countries. The Sámi were recognised as an Indigenous people in Sweden in 1977 and as a people in the Swedish constitution in 2011 (Hansen & Olsen, 2006; Reimerson, 2015). The Sámidiggi, Sami Parliament of Sweden, was inaugurated in 1993 and in 2000 the Sámi languages were protected through national language legislation (Lantto & Mörkenstam, 2015; Pietikäinen et al., 2010). An estimated 20,000–40,000 Sámi people live in Sweden; however, these figures are not conclusive as Sweden does not identify ethnic groups in official statistics (Axelsson, 2010).

There are 51 reindeer herding Sámi communities in the Swedish part of Sápmi and an estimated ten per cent of Sámi people in Sweden work with reindeer husbandry (Samer, 2021). Since the Swedish implementation of reindeer herding legislation in the late 1800s, Sámi customary and property rights are tied to the reindeer and each community is allocated specific grazing lands. Furthermore, Swedish law governs how many reindeer each community is allowed, based on calculations of land capacity and how many animals that particular areas can sustain (Allard & Brännström, 2021).

For the Sámi the reindeer holds immense importance. Every part of the animal is put to use and the reindeer is central to Sámi history, society and culture, evidenced in part by its presence in Sámi creation stories and ancient as well as contemporary expressions of art (Gaski, 2008). There is an annual cycle in reindeer herding, following the seasons. This differs both locally and regionally, as different communities experience different climate zones, in addition there are mountain Sámi communities and forest Sámi communities that practice reindeer herding in slightly different ways. However, a common goal for all reindeer herding Sámi communities is to ensure that the reindeer have access to enough pasture lands and the best possible grazing within the various communities’ customarily held areas. The reindeer wander freely and are thus dependent on natural grazing lands, they feed on certain types of lichen commonly found in the northern parts of Sweden. The reindeer is a migratory animal and it is therefore, important for the reindeer herds to be able to move from pasture land to pasture land depending on seasons.

Climate change is increasingly affecting herding practice. For example, reindeer herders have been forced to move their reindeer herds by lorry in order to ensure the safety of their animals as they need to cross service roads or train tracks - or lakes that will no longer freeze over due to the milder climate caused by climate change.

In Laevas čearru, one of the 51 reindeer herding Sámi communities in Sweden and located in the Kiruna area of Northern Sweden, some reindeer herders have taken to feeding their reindeer in enclosed paddocks. This is due to the severe effects of extractive industries and climate change, which has made it increasingly difficult for the reindeer to find enough food in winter. Others are forced to buy fodder and distribute to the reindeer on their natural pasture lands. Apart from the inconvenience and costliness of feeding the reindeer this way, it also causes problems for the animals as their digestion is sensitive and not adapted to food types other than lichen. There is also an increased risk for reindeer to contract diseases as they need to be gathered up in larger groups for support feeding to be effective.

Herders now seek to understand what kind of adaptations will be necessary for Sámi reindeer herding to survive the current climate and that of the future (REXSAC, 2021).

However, the Swedish part of Sápmi is attractive to extractive industries: there are large forest areas, mineral rich ground, and several large rivers, often referred to as the last wilderness in Europe. Forestry, mining, hydropower, and tourism are all industries that want access to Sámi customary lands and the places where reindeer roam and forage. Thus, where climate change has made reindeer herding increasingly difficult to manage, the expansion of extractive industries is an additional concern that often threatens to become the final straw that will break the livelihood of reindeer herding as it means that land needed for herding is appropriated for extractive use: “Every square meter of land there is becomes incredibly important if we are to be able to adapt to the current climate changes”, says Niila Inga, chair of Laevas čearru. These conflicting interests between reindeer herding Sámi communities and extractive industries and entrepreneurs are often difficult to resolve and the Sámi perspectives are often trivialised or ignored in consultation processes (Sehlin MacNeil, 2015, 2017).

Extractive violence – that is, “a type of direct violence against nature and/or people and animals that is caused by extractivism and that primarily affects peoples closely connected to land” (Sehlin MacNeil, 2017: 23) – underpinned by structural and cultural violence, happens in situations of asymmetric power relations or conflicts. These conflicts, where Indigenous peoples are involved, have their roots in colonial structures and attitudes. Where profit driven extractive ideologies are dominant, Indigenous perspectives on connections between land and people, are commonly trivialised or ignored (Sehlin MacNeil, 2017). However, Indigenous peoples’ knowing, being and doing in relation to the lands that they care for and manage has been given more space in public debate and Indigenous protests about the destruction of their lands are numerous and global. Some are loud and visible, some silent and strategic, some pass quickly, others remain for years on end. There are serious efforts made, also within the frameworks of research, to understand Indigenous cultures from non-colonial perspectives, where living in reciprocal relationships with the land, not trying to own, destroy or master it, is described as affluent and intelligent economies (Broome, 2010; Gammage, 2011). Through recognising extractive violence against land as violence against people, proponents of extractive ideologies can hopefully begin to understand the severe impacts such activity has on our shared planet (Photo 3.1).

Photo 3.1
figure 1

Grazing Paus moving East. (Credit: Niila Inga)

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What Sehlin-MacNeil and Inga show in this perspective is how other drivers such as mining for iron ore, intensive use of rivers, clear felling of forests, dams and the creation of national parks also restrict the spaces available for adaptation. This experience is not unique – in Bolivia the livelihoods of Indigenous farmers in the Bolivian highlands are increasingly threatened due to the effect of multiple stressors that accumulate with climate change. Such stressors include land scarcity, uncertainties in agricultural and labour markets, institutional marginalisation, in addition to climate-related stressors such as water shortages, rising temperatures and increased climate variability. The cumulative result of the combination of these factors is that farmers have lost their incomes, experience food insecurity and suffer from reduced levels of natural, human, financial, physical and social capital (McDowell & Hess, 2012). In Southeast Asia, where there are over 150 million Indigenous Peoples, rapid development combined with climate change is having an immense impact on livelihoods and wellbeing. As outlined in another perspective below, external stressors add to the complicated challenge for the local Afar Indigenous peoples of Ethiopia when managing their resources for climate change.

Perspective 3.3Climate Change Adaptation by the Afar Indigenous People of Ethiopia

Rahwa Kidane

The Afar indigenous people live in the Dankil desert, in the Afar region of Ethiopia. The region is mainly a pastoral area, and it is among the hottest and driest places on earth with temperatures sometimes rising above 50 °C (Cavalazzi et al., 2019). Over the past decade, climate-induced extreme droughts and heatwaves have hit the Afar region more frequently than ever (Afar National Regional State, 2010; Tilahun et al., 2017). In response, the Afar Indigenous people are traditionally adapting to these extreme events mainly through pastoralism (e.g. selling of livestock, storing of dried meat) and mobility to nearby rangelands, guided by their traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) systems (Balehegn et al., 2019; Eriksen & Marin, 2014). In doing so, however, the Afar people are facing developmental processes and policy challenges that threaten their Indigenous climate change adaptation responses.

One of the developmental challenges faced by the Afar Indigenous people relates to the loss of their drought grazing lands to large-scale irrigation farming such as cotton and sugar cane plantations (Fratkin, 2014; Gebeye, 2016; Schmidt & Pearson, 2016). This development measure has led to a massive loss of livestock in Afar, which in turn increases the vulnerability of the Indigenous people to climate change and undermines their capacity to respond to its impacts (Magnan et al., 2016). In addition, although pastoralism is the preferred adaptation measure and one that has a great cultural significance for the Afar, Ethiopia’s National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA) and the Afar Regional State Adaptation policies promote investments in crop cultivation and other non-pastoral adaptation strategies (Afar National Regional State, 2010; NMA, 2007). Most government officials in Ethiopia regard pastoralism as a “backward” culture, and one that needs to be transformed into “modern” agriculture, in order to “civilize” pastoralists (Müller-Mahn et al., 2010). Such adaptation policies have forced the Afar people to shift out of pastoralism and engage in marginal livelihood activities and unsustainable coping measures (e.g. trade and charcoal production) (Eriksen & Marin, 2014; Magnan et al., 2016).

The example of the Afar clearly reveals that beyond external factors such as climate change, development measures and adaptation policies have reinforced vulnerability by disrupting Indigenous peoples’ adaptation strategies and ways of living. This implies that for successful adaptation, there is a need to recognise the context within which vulnerability occurs, including the ones created by non-climatic drivers. The root causes of vulnerability need to be addressed in conjunction with climate change to support and strengthen Indigenous adaptation measures. This case also reveals the presence of a clear disconnect between the government’s climate-change adaptation policy measures and that of Indigenous peoples’ interests and cultural values. This underscores the need to align the existing top-down adaptation policy measures with Indigenous adaptation priorities and the need to include them in the policy formulation and implementation processes (Photo 3.2).

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Afar Tribe Man with his camel. (Credit: Rahwa Kidane)

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Another issue, related to both the impacts of colonisation and the ongoing prevalence of external globalising pressures such as mining and agriculture on Indigenous territories, is that of tenure. Both colonisation and extractive development pressures, have caused intense pressure on Indigenous lands. In the context of places like Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada, Indigenous peoples have also been forcibly relocated and dispossessed of their land and seas, which have been appropriated for various forms of land use, including residential settlement. In other cases, significant Indigenous territories (Yellowstone in the US is an early example) have been taken over and declared National Parks. The historical relationships between governments and its peoples have caused ongoing confusion or injustice in relation to securing tenure for Indigenous peoples. In the Philippines, the resilience of the Higaonon communities in Initao and Naawan, is inhibited by the absence of land entitlements, also exposing them to encroachment by logging and other companies on their ancestral lands (Peña et al., 2017). This insecurity of tenure has wide ramifications as it creates an obstacle to the development of effective adaptation, a fact recognised formally by the International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) in 2019 as follows:

Insecure land tenure affects the ability of people, communities and organisations to make changes to land that can advance adaptation and mitigation (medium confidence). Limited recognition of customary access to land and ownership of land can result in increased vulnerability and decreased adaptive capacity (medium confidence)

The IPCC (2019) then follows up by arguing that

Land policies (including recognition of customary tenure, community mapping, redistribution, decentralisation, co-management, regulation of rental markets) can provide both security and flexibility response to climate change (medium confidence).

Building tenure security then is an important precursor to building strong Indigenous adaptation. It can also play a key role in reducing emissions, as Indigenous lands are recognised globally as an important carbon sink. It is also recognised that many Indigenous peoples, via the use of their traditional knowledge, are able to sustainably manage their lands if they have land security. An example from Peru, shows that with Indigenous tenure, forest disturbance and clearing is significantly reduced (Blackman et al., 2017). Another perspective, this time from Bangladesh, underscores the importance of recognising the historical impacts of colonisation on tenure and how that can affect adaptation practice.

Perspective 3.4Cultivating Indigenous Community Engagement in Climate Change Adaptation in Bangladesh

Md. Masud-All-Kamal

Bangladesh is a highly climate-vulnerable country, but all people are not going to be affected equally. People who are marginalised, living close to the natural environment and dependent on climate-sensitive livelihoods are more vulnerable to climate change than others. Bangladesh has over 54 Indigenous groups comprising about three million people, residing mainly in both flatland and hilly forested areas across the country. The most prominent Indigenous groups inhabit the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) – located in south-eastern Bangladesh – who primarily depend on unique agricultural practices called shifting cultivation, locally known as jhum, and the gathering of forest resources. The CHT is the home of over twelve Indigenous communities who have historically faced many socio-political and environmental challenges.

The policies and initiatives of the British colonial administration and subsequent governments taken for the protection and development of Indigenous people have proved to be counterproductive. Such interventions have affected traditional administrative structures and the collective/communal land rights and management practices of the Indigenous peoples, which has resulted in displacement, marginalisation and conflict. These discriminatory state policies have also led to the loss of key cultural features including spirituality, nature relationships and rituals. Climate change has added an extra layer to the vulnerability of Indigenous communities in the CHT. Indigenous peoples in this region, like many other Indigenous populations in South Asia and worldwide, depend on generational and old knowledge of weather patterns, but they are now experiencing the effects of climate change in the form of changing seasonal timing, landslides, droughts and floods. All these factors affect sustainable traditional livelihoods and ways of life.

The Indigenous people of the north-eastern region have always addressed environmental variability and adapted for generations, using their cultural and traditional knowledge to cope with and adapt to changing climatic conditions. For instance, in order to protect agroforestry crops from heavy rainfall, Indigenous people cultivate vegetables before the rainy season and cover seedlings and saplings with bamboo nets and support saplings with bamboo sticks to keep them upright (Rahman & Alam, 2016). However, despite their extensive knowledge and experience with coping with environmental change, Indigenous groups in Bangladesh have been ignored in the process of climate change policy-making and planning for the country. Rather than adopting expert-led analyses and solutions based on scientific methods, planners and implementers need to develop adaptation based on sociocultural values, knowledge and prevailing technologies of its Indigenous peoples (Datta, 2019). Without meaningful participation the adaptive capacity of Indigenous communities in Bangladesh will be compromised and entrench marginalisation and deepen their vulnerability. Therefore, adaptation initiatives for building Indigenous peoples’ adaptive capacity must sufficiently consider Indigenous modes of climate change adaptation.

Such planning must also sufficiently consider historical and contextual aspects. Historically, Indigenous peoples have experienced disruption, dislocation and deception through state-driven development interventions. The State may interpret climate change adaptation as a new instrument to control and alienate Indigenous groups from their traditional means of livelihoods. For Indigenous communities in Bangladesh, the management of environmental climate variability and change is also intertwined with their rights to the land and forest resources, as well as their rights to utilise their place-based knowledge. The customary rights to forestlands and other natural resources not only act as buffer against diverse stresses, but also preserve their spiritual and cultural values acquired through experience and observations and passed down through stories, apprenticeship and practice. Indigenous adaptation knowledge and practices in Bangladesh are dynamic, cumulative and flexible.

Therefore, any endeavours to enhance the adaptive capacity (or resilience) of Indigenous peoples to climate change in Bangladesh must also uphold their traditional ownership, tenure and management of agricultural and forestlands. In turn, this will strengthen their capacities to adapt to uncertainties including those associated with climate change. Bottom-up approaches can enable critical and culturally sensitive approaches that will document and integrate Indigenous understandings in climate change adaptation policy, planning and programs. Such tenure rights would enable the Indigenous communities of Bangladesh to be recognised and incorporated into climate adaptation policy and practices, to protect both nature and traditional livelihood practices (Photo 3.3).

Photo 3.3
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Indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts use their Indigenous knowledge in traditional shifting cultivation to adapt to climate change. (Credit: Masud Kamal)

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Tenure security is also a driver when considering migration as an adaptation option for Indigenous peoples. Often touted as a pathway solution to the catastrophic effects of sea level rise and flooding (amongst other impacts) on small Indigenous communities, it is in fact not a preferred option.

An example, drawn from the Pacific is illustrative. In this case, the normalisation of a discourse around climate change and sea level rise in the Pacific has led to international acceptance that there is very little hope for Pacific Atoll countries. It is believed that Pacific Atoll countries in fact face finite futures and hence must migrate/leave their tribal homes (Barnett, 2017). This in turn has led to the implementation of various forms of policy where adaptation is seen as “palliative care”, the step taken just prior to mass migration.

Yet, in the Pacific itself, despite the normalisation of what is a ‘loss’ discourse, communities are being creative and are simply refusing outright to accept the normalisation process. In a study of this concept in Tuvalu, rather than emphasise a loss discourse (and the argument that migration is inevitable and should be accepted), Barnett (2017) argues for a more creative/hopeful delivery of adaptation. One that seeks to ask the Pacific Islanders what they consider is intolerable and what they think would advance an agenda of proactive adaptation.

In answering this question, we find that in the Pacific, Indigenous peoples resist being characterised as vulnerable and forced to relocate; it is not perceived by them as the ‘only’ option. Rather than relocate for example, local peoples in Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands have used replacement housing and re-established patterns of self-sufficiency to adapt. In Papua New Guinea, a wide range of sea level rise options are being implemented, instead of asking people to move elsewhere (Damon, 2018). As Bryant-Tokalau (2018, xiii) in a case study of the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji notes:

Although the Islands of the Pacific are constantly portrayed as victims in the face of climate change, and indeed are facing many major impacts with increasingly strong storms and rising sea levels, they also have many ways of facing up to the changes. Pacific Islanders have much to teach other nations about resilience and coping and are determined to use their knowledge to maintain ancient traditional practices….far from what is portrayed in the media, islanders and their countries, are not always as vulnerable as they may appear, and have, in the past, the ability to survive in the face of environmental changes.

Further, in moving from one area to another, Indigenous people may face additional language and cultural barriers, housing issues, and discrimination when seeking employment. This challenge has been faced by many Native Alaskans as they have been forced to relocate from their villages into cities due to climate change.

Tenure security then has many resonances in the context of adaptation: being able to ensure stable tenure will assist Indigenous groups to be protected from the sharper impacts of the external globalising stressors described above and allow them a voice to make decisions about and to independently manage disruptors like illegal logging, mining or land appropriations from government. Security of land/sea tenure enables Indigenous groups to build social capital and adaptive capacity by mandating their right to make decisions about what happens in their territories, and provides sources of livelihood and sustenance, which can be a buffer against climate impacts and the need to migrate.

Relationship with Government

Underpinning many of the issues around tenure, resource extraction and building effective adaptation is the relationship Indigenous peoples have with their respective governments. Governments at all levels both support and inhibit Indigenous actions on climate change, with many policy failures typically creating maladaptation and welfare dependence (Son & Kingsbury, 2020). In Vietnam for example, for the Tay, Dao, and Hmong ethnic minorities the Northern Mountainous Region (NMR), the implementation of their local knowledge for climate adaptation remained conditional on institutions and policymakers at the local, regional, and central levels (Son & Kingsbury, 2020). In colonised countries such as the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, government relationships with their First Peoples remains fraught with ongoing tension and further, via the imposition of Western legal systems and they too often curtail the use of Indigenous knowledge so they are not as visible or recognised (Barry & Porter, 2012). Hierarchical governance models are not generally inclusive of Indigenous voices, or cultural modes of governance.

Yet governments have an opportunity to support Indigenous leadership and governance. As Irlbacher-Fox and MacNeill (2020, 271) note “the best climate change adaptation strategy is for governments (and voters) to support Indigenous governance of climate change strategies for their communities and territories, ensuring the provision of resources needed to accomplish targeted outcomes and goals”. Collaborative initiatives that are localised and decentralised, ones built between Indigenous communities, state governments, and scientists that intersect at various scales and connect local, national, and international scales is one way forward (Brugnach et al., 2017; Bunce, 2019).

Gender

As much as gender significantly influences how climate change is experienced within Indigenous cultures, so too is it a powerful influencer within Indigenous adaptation, where the deployment of Indigenous knowledge into adaptation can also reflect gender nuances and reinforce key gender roles within different cultures. In many cases these nuances mean that Indigenous women are disproportionately and negatively affected. Hence, the status and also role of Indigenous women in adapting to climate change is important and must be considered. As Jennifer Morris, President of Conservation International notes:

Indigenous women are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis and they are powerful agents in the fight to halt it… A critical step to protecting nature, to protecting the planet, is elevating the rights and roles of the world’s Indigenous peoples, especially women (Price, 2019, 1).

Some adaptation programs are already addressing this issue: in the Amazonia region, the NGO Conservation International works together with the Women’s Council of the Coordinator of the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) to build the capacity of, and to empower indigenous women to be conservationists. In Maa, Kenya, women are leading the way in adapting to change by implementing a number of adaptations such as the use of alternative energies, the formation of small economic groups to rotate money, supporting others via village savings and loan associations and making beads for sale.

In some cases, women’s attempts to manage for climate change has caused a revitalisation of traditional knowledge. As a woman from Yap Island in the Pacific notes, “climate change is not something new to us, it’s always been there and we have ways to fight climate change, there are traditional techniques we can use” (woman from Yap, cited in Mcleod et al., 2018, 181). Other examples of female led adaptation in the Pacific include the establishment of the Palau Community College Cooperative Research and Extension which is experimenting with planting types of salt tolerant taro. Women in Yap are planting palms in flooded taro patches to provide material for weaving and protection from flooding, while in the Marshall Islands, women are braiding Pandanus leaves to guide rainwater into storage containers and plant native plants to reduce coastal erosion and flooding. While Pacific Island women are keepers of important knowledge, their gender and existing power structures mean that their role is under-valued and under-represented. Perspective 3.5 highlights an example of this in practice in Fiji and illustrates the role gender plays to both help and hinder Indigenous adaptation.

Perspective 3.5Valuing Women’s Indigenous Knowledge of Resource Management in Fiji

Jasmine Pearson, Karen E McNamara, Roselyn Kumar

The value of Indigenous knowledge for resource management and climate change adaptation has been well-documented over time. What is often overlooked, however, is the gendered nature of Indigenous knowledge with significant differences between women and men in terms of the type, access, use, transmission and preservation of knowledge. Recognising the gendered distinctiveness of these dynamic and living bodies of knowledge is critical for their ongoing survival, an issue increasingly important in the face of climate change and disaster risk (Nalau et al., 2018). Drawing on a study from Bua Province, Vanua Levu Island, Fiji (see Fig. 3.1), we highlight the gender-specific knowledge held by iTaukei (Indigenous Fijian) women.

Fig. 3.1
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Map of Fiji Islands showing key village sites: Bua, Dalomo, Denimanu, Koroinasolo

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Purposive sampling was used to target interview participants regarded as community experts on dogo (mangroves). As a result, 85 per cent of participants were women. The findings showed that iTaukei women held a substantial body of knowledge on mangrove ecosystems due to their traditional role of foraging and collecting resources such as qari (mud crabs). In comparison to men, women held greater knowledge on the value of mangroves for traditional medicine, garlands, artwork, household decorations and firewood (Pearson et al., 2019).

Both women and men identified separate tabu areas, community replantation and knowledge sharing through oral traditions as key mangrove management strategies (Pearson et al., 2020). Women were more likely to replant mangroves, and pass on their knowledge to younger generations about managing and taking care of them. The extent of transmitted knowledge retained by younger generations has long been a concern shared by Indigenous women, especially in the age of mobile phones, internet and accumulating stress from climate change. This raises questions about the sustainability of Indigenous knowledge in contexts like rural Fiji (Fache & Pauwels, 2020; McMillen et al., 2017).

Under qoliqoli systems (customary marine tenure in Fiji), tabu areas are commonly used to temporarily ban or restrict the collection of fish or other marine species from a given area, with permission from the Ratu (village Chief) (Aalbersberg et al., 2005; Vuki & Vunisea, 2016). Due to complex power dynamics, Fijian women are often prohibited from decision-making processes regarding tabu areas, and general resource management (Ram-Bidesi, 2015; Vunisea, 2007). This is in contrast to the dominantly matrilineal islands of Micronesia where women are empowered to identify gaps in knowledge transmission and largely contribute to community sustainability (Kim, 2020).

Women’s Indigenous knowledge is distinct, relevant and valuable, extending from resource management to cultural maintenance and identity (Bryant-Tokalau, 2018). Failure to acknowledge the gendered nature of Indigenous knowledge in climate policy and programs will minimise outcomes, and potentially jeopardise the long-term survival of such knowledge. This is critical for many Pacific Island communities affected by climate change, compromising both their resource base and coping capacities. The latter is being exacerbated by COVID-19 and the growing need for cashless adaptation (Bryant-Tokalau, 2018; Nunn & Kumar, 2019). Understanding Indigenous resilience and unpacking its gendered components is vital for enabling effective and sustainable adaptation solutions. The challenge now is how to promote women’s Indigenous knowledge in climate change adaptation without up-ending the customary and cultural dynamics that exist in Pacific Island societies (Photo 3.4).

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Pacific women adapting to climate change. (Credit: Jasmine Pearson)

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Connection and Spirituality

Finally, spirituality is also an important driver – and inhibitor for Indigenous peoples as they try to establish how to adapt to change. This is manifest in two ways. Firstly, Indigenous peoples are spiritually connected to their territories, and believe that this connection needs to be invigorated and upheld as part of responding to climate change:

In our culture we are encouraged to spend as much time as we can on the land, getting in touch with the Earth, feeling the presence of spirit in the world.We all need to make our way to the land, to recover and to heal the human spirit. We have to feel nature, feel the sun, feel the wind, feel the breeze, feel the rain, and listen to the voice of nature, through the sounds of the animals, sounds of the birds; to listen to messages that come from the winds; to hug the trees, to lay on the land, to feel the love of the earth. We need to listen to the waters in the rapids in the falls, to see the beauty of the land; to see the stars twinkling in the night sky, to see, feel the power of the full moon; to greet the sun at sunrise in gratitude for the blessing of life‘s gifts, to touch the land with your bare feet. The spirit in the land will guide us, teach us, and ultimately give us our survival (an Anishinabe Elder, cited in Courchene, 2019, 1)

In Maori tradition, every plant, animal and living thing share a cosmological relationship and this relationship means that Mãori peoples believe that the wellbeing of one depends on the wellbeing of all. In Peru, where there are 340,000 resident Indigenes, and 42 Amazon ethnicities, the spiritual connection to their territories is so profound that they believe climate change has caused spiritual disruption to their connection to place. As a result, to redress climate impacts on their livelihoods, they have initiated an active recreation of their traditional agricultural practices. This is seen as a fundamental step to ensure that spiritual ‘disharmonies’, caused by climate change are redressed and so they can re-institute ritual conversations with their lands, and ancestors (Panduro, 2018).

This idea of spiritual ‘disharmony’ is not uncommon. In the Caribbean coast off Nicaragua, the Miskitu and Garifunas people fear that their spirits are leaving as climate change from their perspective is causing imbalances that cause a loss of spirit values thus leading to less connection with the spirits (Kain, 2018). In Bolivia, the Charzzani, Quechua and Kallawaya nations who live in the Andes, implement adaptive strategies all the time, yet modern technologies and factors like school attendance for their children compromise the practice of their spiritual rituals (Vidaurre de la Riva et al., 2013).

However, the other way in which spirituality becomes an active agent in Indigenous adaptation is where it creates a climate of scepticism or a confusion about managing it. In this case, (and often these examples are set within Christian spiritual tradition), the causes of climate change are constructed as ‘lessons’ or ‘punishments’ from God (Ford et al., 2020). The Chuuk Islanders in the Pacific for example see climate change as God’s plan to resurrect proper Christian behaviour (Hofmann, 2018, 4). It is important to understand that Christianity is both praxis and politics, when located within sea level rise, migration and climate change.

Understanding how different Indigenous groups construct their spiritual connection to place and how they relate it to climate change can thus inform the development of productive adaptive partnerships, ones that can align with cultural and spiritual connections to place (Kempf, 2020).

Summary

This chapter presents an overview of some of the ways in which Indigenous peoples are responding to climate change: they not only illustrate examples of the diversity of actions being taken but also the challenges in developing them. Nonetheless, Indigenous peoples, whether colonised or not, all face similar threats to their livelihoods, culture, and knowledge, and have drawn on all these elements to build and lead their own futures. It is an exhibition of unparalleled place based yet collective agency. To explore in a deeper way the context and journey of some of these initiatives, the following chapters investigate the drivers for adaptation and lessons learned via three in depth case studies. The first is a case study from North America that analyses how the First Nation peoples of the United States have adapted to climate change on a large scale and provides an insight into Indigenous adaptive governance in action.