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Pastoral Communities’ Perspectives on Climate Change and Their Adaptation Strategies in the Hindukush-Karakoram-Himalaya

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Part of the book series: Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research ((AAHER))

Abstract

This chapter is based on four case studies carried out respectively in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nepal by using semi-structured household interviews. Climate changes, especially rising temperature and more erratic precipitation, are strongly felt by pastoralists and are affecting their livelihoods strategies. Local communities have adapted to these changes, passively or proactively, by enhancing water resources management, changing the temporal and spatial pattern of seasonal migration, introducing drought-resistant crops or animal varieties or diversifying income-generating activities. However, the adaptive capacity of the pastoral communities to deal with the changes has been severely limited by multiple factors.

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Acknowledgement 

This chapter is based on case studies carried out by ICIMOD staff in Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan. We thank Ashiq Ahmad Khan, Mohammad Shafi Hafizi and Tara Pandey for their field work and resulting reports.

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Correspondence to Yi Shaoliang .

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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

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Shaoliang, Y., Ismail, M., Zhaoli, Y. (2012). Pastoral Communities’ Perspectives on Climate Change and Their Adaptation Strategies in the Hindukush-Karakoram-Himalaya. In: Kreutzmann, H. (eds) Pastoral practices in High Asia. Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3846-1_17

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