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Indigenous knowledge about climate change and sustainability of nomadic livelihoods: understanding adaptability coping strategies

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Abstract

Indigenous knowledge about climate change that makes adaptability necessary by coping strategies leads to the sustainability of nomadic livelihoods. This paper proposed a new adaptability approach, an association coping strategy (ACS), which is established based on the association rulesʼ recommendations. The adaptability was empirically analyzed using 12 coping strategies used by Kashkooli nomads in Sepidan plain, Fars province, Iran. Required data were gathered both in the form of time series from November 1988 to February 2020 and cross section during June–July 2019. Household perceptions of climatic and environmental variables, supported by meteorological data, revealed that climate change was negatively impacting the Kashkooli nomadic livelihood in Sepidan plain. The findings also indicated that taking simultaneous coping strategies resulted in selling livestock surplus, saving water consumption, livestock insurance, rangeland regeneration schemes, and immigration to more suitable rangelands. Therefore, Kashkooli nomadic livelihood survived climate changes using ACSs. The association rules were useful for recommending anticipatory coping strategies that were adopted based on indigenous knowledge about climate change by nomads to establish appropriate adaptability.

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Fig. 1

Adopted by Aguilera et al. (2020) and Mekonnen et al. (2018)

Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Source: Department of Meteorology, Fars province, Iran

Fig. 4

Source: Department of Meteorology, Fars province, Iran

Fig. 5

Source: Household Survey, 2019, Sepidan plain, Fars province, Iran

Fig. 6

Source: Household Survey, 2019, Sepidan plain, Fars province, Iran

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural Economics, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

    Samane Ghazali

  2. Department of Geography, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Hossein Azadi

  3. Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    Hossein Azadi, Kristina Janečková & Petr Sklenička

  4. Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 818 South Beijing Road, Urumqi, 830011, Xinjiang, China

    Alishir Kurban

  5. Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 818 South Beijing Road, Urumqi, 830011, Xinjiang, China

    Alishir Kurban

  6. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Alishir Kurban

  7. Sino-Belgian Joint Laboratory for Geo-Information, Urumqi, 830011, China

    Alishir Kurban

  8. Environmental Research Centre, Cyprus International University, Nicosia-Northern Cyprus via Mersin 10, Turkey

    Sedef Cakir

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  1. Samane Ghazali
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Ghazali, S., Azadi, H., Janečková, K. et al. Indigenous knowledge about climate change and sustainability of nomadic livelihoods: understanding adaptability coping strategies. Environ Dev Sustain 23, 16744–16768 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01332-0

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