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The paper introduces a new vision advanced by the recent project, Arctic People and Animal Crashes: Human, Climate and Habitat Agency in the Anthropocene (2014-2015) developed at the Smithsonian Institution. Unlike earlier top-down models of polar animal-climate-people connections that tied changes in Arctic species’ abundance and ranges to alternating warmer and cooler temperatures or high ice/low sea-ice regimes, rapid animal declines (‘crashes’) may be better approached at regional and local scales. This approach is close to Arctic peoples’ traditional vision that animals, like people, live in ‘tribes’ and that they ‘come and go’ according to their relations with the local human societies. As the Arctic changes rapidly and climate/sea-ice/ecotone boundaries shift, we see diverse responses by Arctic people and animals to environmental stressors. I examine recent data on the status of three northern mammal species - caribou/reindeer, Pacific walrus, and polar bear—during two decades of the ongoing Arctic warming. The emerging record may be best approached as a series of local human-animal disequilibria interpreted from different angles by population biologists, indigenous peoples, and anthropologists, rather than a top-down climate-induced ‘crash.’ Such new understanding implies the varying speed of change in the physical, animal, and human domains, which was not factored in the earlier models of climate-animal-people’s interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The convergence of climate change and post-Soviet socio-economic and institutional transformations has been underexplored so far, as have the consequences of such convergence on crop agriculture in Central Asia. This paper provides a place-based analysis of constraints and opportunities for adaptation to climate change, with a specific focus on water use, in two districts in southeast Kazakhstan. Data were collected by 2 multi-stakeholder participatory workshops, 21 semi-structured in-depth interviews, and secondary statistical data. The present-day agricultural system is characterised by enduring Soviet-era management structures, but without state inputs that previously sustained agricultural productivity. Low margins of profitability on many privatised farms mean that attempts to implement integrated water management have produced water users associations unable to maintain and upgrade a deteriorating irrigation infrastructure. Although actors engage in tactical adaptation measures, necessary structural adaptation of the irrigation system remains difficult without significant public or private investments. Market-based water management models have been translated ambiguously to this region, which fails to encourage efficient water use and hinders adaptation to water stress. In addition, a mutual interdependence of informal networks and formal institutions characterises both state governance and everyday life in Kazakhstan. Such interdependence simultaneously facilitates operational and tactical adaptation, but hinders structural adaptation, as informal networks exist as a parallel system that achieves substantive outcomes while perpetuating the inertia and incapacity of the state bureaucracy. This article has relevance for critical understanding of integrated water management in practice and adaptation to climate change in post-Soviet institutional settings more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the once ubiquitous vernacular earth-built structures of Scotland and how perceptions of such buildings were shaped and developed through periods of intense cultural and environmental change. We focus upon the past exploitation of traditional resources to construct vernacular architectures and on changes in the perception of the resultant buildings. Historic earth-built structures are today deeply hidden within the landscapes of Scotland, although they were once a common feature of both urban and rural settlements. Whilst the eighteenth and nineteenth century period of Improvement - during which many of these structures were destroyed, repurposed, or left to decay - has received extensive attention by historians, there exists no previous serious study of the human and environmental dimensions. Through analysis of the material aspects of landscape resource use and analysis of the historical perceptions of such use, we emphasize the national significance of this undervalued aspect of Scotland's built and cultural heritage, increasingly at risk of being lost completely, highlighting the prior ubiquity of mudwall structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the drylands of Africa, pastoralists have been facing new challenges, including those related to environmental shocks and stresses. In northern Kenya, under conditions of reduced rainfall and more frequent droughts, one response has been for pastoralists to focus increasingly on camel herding. Camels have started to be kept at higher altitudes and by people who rarely kept camels before. The development has been understood as a climate change adaptation strategy and as a means to improve climate resilience. Since 2003, development organizations have started to further the trend by distributing camels in the region. Up to now, little has been known about the nature of, reasons for, or ramifications of the increased reliance on camels. The paper addresses these questions and concludes that camels improve resilience in this dryland region, but only under certain climate change scenarios, and only for some groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to maintain or increase livestock mobility in arid Africa has been widely embraced by ecologists, social scientists, and more recently regional governments. These movements are seen to sustain livestock production under a highly variable and changing climate. At the same time, livestock mobility is threatened by the expansion of agriculture onto rangelands. A major conundrum raised in the pastoral development literature is the potential contradiction of the need for spatially-fixed, exclusionary forms of tenure to protect key pastoral resources with the need for socially-porous open systems of resource tenure that ensure flexible access. This has been called the 'paradox of pastoral land tenure.' By adopting a transhumance corridor network approach, this paper demonstrates that there is a middle ground where flexible access can be maintained within a fixed network of corridors. A transhumance network includes not only the physical paths or corridors followed by livestock herds but also the encampment sites where livestock pass the night while moving along corridors and the water sources linked to encampment site. This study mapped and characterized 5000 km of corridors, 744 encampments, and 1010 water points in eastern Senegal. These pastoral features form a network of interconnected resources providing alternative options for travel, water, and forage as herds move along a north-south trajectory. The research analyzes spatial variation in the network's ability to provide these services (water, quality forage, and travel) as influenced by rainfall variability, cropping pressure, and social institutions. Four distinct zones within the study area were compared with analyses showing variation among them in the importance of different factors shaping access. More broadly, the study demonstrates that extant transhumance networks accommodate the competing needs of pastoral tenure security by facilitating herd movements in response to changing resource availabilities through a series of spatially-fixed components (encampment sites, water points, and corridors) that can be recognized and protected through legislation. Thus, the demands for tenure security and flexible patterns of resource use can both be potentially accommodated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 10 years, mobility of livestock has been portrayed as increasing the resilience of rural households in semi-arid Africa to climate change and variability. With this recognition, there has been important work characterizing livestock mobility and the barriers to it. This paper adds to this work by addressing two gaps in the literature: 1. An understanding in the variation of livestock mobility practices among communities; and 2. An understanding of rural peoples' views of the advantages and disadvantages of livestock mobility as well as the factors affecting their decisions about herd movements. A mixed-methods approach was adopted to analyze data collected by household survey and group interviews conducted in 32 multi-ethnic villages in Mali and Niger spanning the 12.5° N to 16.5° N latitudinal range. The results of regression and qualitative analyses show that: 1. A large fraction of rural households rely on livestock as part of their livelihood strategies; 2. Grazing management of a large majority of village livestock depends on movements outside of the village territory, especially during the rainy season; 3. The mobility of village livestock is not strongly influenced by the village's sociprofessional composition (farmer, herder, fisher, artisan..etc.); and 4. The prevalence of extra-village movements of village livestock (sheep and cattle) is higher in areas of higher population density. Despite the advantages of livestock mobility cited by informants, longer-distance movements are inhibited by risks associated with climatic, land-use, and sociopolitical change. Herd managers make decisions using diverse information about potential destinations with greater trust of information gathered by themselves or close kin. The implications of these findings for livestock management and policy in the region are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concepts of vulnerability and adaptation have contributed to understanding human responses to climate change. However, analysis of the implications of the broader political context on adaptation has largely been absent. Through a case study of the subsistence livelihoods of Koyukon Athabascan people of Ruby Village, this paper examines the implications of adaptation to the social changes precipitated by colonization for the articulation of current responses to climate change. Semi-structured interviews, seasonal rounds, and land-use mapping conducted with 20 community experts indicate that subsistence livelihoods are of continued importance to the people of Ruby in spite of the dramatic social change. While adaptive responses demonstrate resilience, adaptation to one form of change can increase vulnerability to other kinds of perturbations. Research findings illustrate that a historical approach to adaptation can clarify the influence of the present political context on indigenous peoples' responses to impacts of climate changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores institutional arrangements governing reciprocal grazing resource sharing among different pastoral and agropastoral clans in eastern Ethiopia. It describes and compares multiple institutional arrangements that define non-exclusive property rights in order to increase the social and economic efficiency of grazing resource uses in a risky environment. Results indicate that social capital, explained using lineage as a proxy, plays a crucial role in facilitating the establishment of and negotiation for non-exclusive forms of rights to grazing resources. Nonetheless, socio-political factors, such as clan politics and regulations restricting cross-border herd mobility, limit the role of customary institutional arrangements in sustaining interclan cooperation. Increased threat from climate change (rainfall variability) and the absence of insurance for the livestock increase the necessity to sustain interclan cooperation over the reciprocal sharing of the grazing commons. This suggests the need for a policy shift in favor of reinforcing customary systems of resource governance to ameliorate interclan cooperation to respond to these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of socioecological transformations such as climate change, the collapse of the Soviet empire, and civil war are examined for 14 villages in the valleys of the Pamir Mountains in the historical Badakhshan region, now divided between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Preliminary findings indicate concern for food sovereignty, evidence of biocultural impacts of climate change, an increasing burden on women, debilitating opium addiction, the ecological importance of sacred sites, and other priorities related to sustainable livelihoods, such as energy needs (for fuel and lighting) and physical and social infrastructure in the form of roads and schools. In the complex setting of the Pamir Mountains, characterized by both cultural and ecological diversity and marked by artificial political boundaries, the creative and pragmatic interaction between indigenous and scientific knowledge sustains the best hope for survival. Applied research must combine communities of inquirers (research institutions) with communities of social practitioners (farmers, pastoralists, and civil society institutions) to facilitate indigenous participation in generating context-specific knowledge. The goal of such research is practical outcomes that will meet the urgent priorities of village communities. This paper establishes a baseline from which undertake applied human ecological research related to livelihood security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are facing threats to their livelihoods including climate change, unsustainable farming practices, increasing water scarcity, and crop raiding herbivores, among other challenges. How demographic, economic, and social factors impact farmers' attitudes and responses to such threats and the relationship to conservation initiatives remains an underexplored topic. With the aim of informing policy and management priorities locally, but with broad applications, we developed a set of a priori hypotheses related to the impacts of livelihood threats and alternatives for farmers. To assess these hypotheses, we surveyed 206 farmers across 6 villages in the Kasigau Wildlife Corridor of Kenya. Most respondents believed that climate change had negatively affected their lives and a third of respondents had not been exposed to alternative crop types. However, sociodemographic factors were poor predictors of farmer beliefs and knowledge, suggesting a homogeneity of views. Nearly half (48%) of respondents preferred to continue farming despite other possible means of income, potentially indicating a strong sense of place. Survey questions revealed other disparities such as 55% of respondents had no formal farm training outside of school, and most had never visited the nearby national parks. Compared to other studies, an above average belief in the benefits of wildlife was notable across the villages. Our findings can inform programs that work with local farmers to create specific management priorities that assist stakeholders in building resilience to threatened natural resources and increase food security which could bolster support of conservation programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the history of the publication of periodical with topics published in the previous issues of the periodical including assessments in studying climate change, salmon fisheries and resource defense theory.

Guinea-Bissau remains among the African countries most vulnerable to climate change due to its flat topography and large meandering coastal area invaded by the tides.We present a case study of the island-village of Djobel, showing the dramatic consequences of socio-environmental change. The inhabitants' attempts to mitigate the impact of extreme weather events and sea-level rise and adapt to the new circumstances have been hampered by the seizure of their upland territory by a neighboring village. In the context of a disconnect between state and society, Djobel's inhabitants want the state to guarantee their rights to productive land, water, and safe housing conditions. This case shows the need for legal protection of the rights of poor, marginalized, and underrepresented populations at risk of becoming climate refugees in the fragile context of politically unstable, failed, and often authoritarian states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The well-being of Indigenous communities in Alaska is inextricably linked to traditional harvest practices (THPs) such as hunting, fishing, and gathering local wild foods. Regional trends in the health of THPs have not been quantitatively evaluated in Alaska. Therefore, we surveyed Indigenous residents in the Western Coastal (n = 623) and Interior (n = 437) Regions of Alaska to estimate perceptions of the extent and cause of change in the health of THPs over the last ten years. We found that THPs improved in Western Coastal and declined in Interior Alaska. The best predictors of improvement or decline in the health of THPs were 1) change in the ability to share the harvest, 2) change in participation in hunting and fishing activities, and 3) extent of challenges caused by climate change. The odds of a decline in the health of THPs were 8 to 13 times higher for households that reported a decrease in sharing of traditional foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional burning regimes have long been employed to enhance biodiversity and mitigate high-intensity wildfires. The link between changes in the distribution, success, and timing of breeding in seabirds and climatic and oceanographic variation in the marine environment has been established, with migratory seabirds less able to respond to climate variability than resident species. While climate-driven changes can also occur on seabird breeding islands, few data are available regarding potential impacts. Here we investigate the frequency and severity of bushfires on seabird breeding islands in Western Australia, regarding the 2020 fire on Figure of Eight Island in the Recherche Archipelago. A lack of quantitative, historical surveys limited our ability to quantify the number of shearwaters lost in this event. However, a review of available data suggests thousands of birds die due to burning every one or two years across the Archipelago. On Figure of Eight, shearwater burrow occupancy and density were low 12 months post-burn (0.25 and 0.02 ± 0.03, respectively), with minimal evidence of recovery (very few burrows detected) 23 months post-burn. We discuss opportunities to develop an adaptive, community-based program for reinstating collaborative, cultural methods of fire management and monitoring regimes on seabird breeding islands in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the ongoing transformation of the livestock raising component of a complex agrosilvopastoral management system associated with the Geraizeiro of northern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Increasing droughts and regional climate change, associated with large-scale corporate enclosures of upland rangelands and conversion to eucalyptus plantations for industrial charcoal production have undermined solta, a customary form of extensive cattle raising and centerpiece of Geraizeiro lifeways. In response, farmers are adapting and transforming another, more intense form of livestock raising associated with managed agroforestry in lower-lying areas, manga. Using a social-ecological systems approach and drawing on extensive interviews and ecological inventories, we consider such changes within the overall integrity of the system, suggesting the need to reconsider the role of the Geraizeiros and their use of cattle and fire as a potentially useful tool in reconciling livelihoods and conservation, particularly amidst accelerating social and environmental change and the concomitant threats to the savanna biocultural biome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seasonal rounds are deliberative articulations of a community's sociocultural relations with their ecological system. The process of visualizing seasonal rounds informs transdisciplinary research. We present a methodological approach for communities of enquiry to engage communities of practice through context-specific sociocultural and ecological relations driven by seasonal change. We first discuss historical précis of the concept of seasonal rounds that we apply to assess the spatial and temporal communal migrations and then describe current international research among Indigenous and rural communities in North America and Central Asia by the creation of a common vocabulary through mutual respect for multiple ways of knowing, validation of co-generated knowledge, and insights into seasonal change. By investigating the relationship between specific biophysical indicators and livelihoods of local communities, we demonstrate that seasonal rounds are an inclusive and participatory methodology that brings together diverse Indigenous and rural voices to anticipate anthropogenic climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigations of how past human societies managed during times of major climate change can inform our understanding of potential human responses to ongoing environmental change. In this study, we evaluate the impact of environmental variation on human communities over the last four millennia in the southern Lake Titicaca basin of the Andes, known as Lake Wiñaymarka. Refined paleoenvironmental reconstructions from new diatom-based reconstructions of lake level together with archaeological evidence of animal and plant resource use from sites on the Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia, reveal frequent climate and lake-level changes within major cultural phases. We posit that climate fluctuations alone do not explain major past social and political transformations but instead that a highly dynamic environment contributed to the development of flexible and diverse subsistence practices by the communities in the Titicaca Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I investigate how small-scale fishing communities in the Northern and Southern Group of the Cook Islands understand global climate change through lived experiences rather than through Western scientific knowledge, which often exists at a global rather than local level and infrequently reaches local communities. Responses to qualitative interviews illustrate how local communities and scientists communicate differently about environmental phenomena that are often viewed at different scales. My results also show that while all interviewees have experienced first-hand the effects of climate change, understanding of climate change at the local level is not homogenous. I discuss the importance of bridging the gap between traditional and scientific ways of knowing by ensuring scientific knowledge reaches local communities in accessible and useful form, and by incorporating traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) as well as scientific knowledge into climate change related policy making at both local and national levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I explore fraternal polyandry, a significant but rare social institution, and its relationship with changing land ownership patterns in Kinnaur, Western Himalaya. Kinnauri fraternal polyandry, a common traditional marital practice where one woman marries two or more brothers, is a complex cooperative strategy that has alleviated environmental uncertainty for those living in harsh environments. In a region with land, resource, and labor scarcity, strong social networks reduce risk and support livelihoods. Drawing on qualitative ethnographic research, I analyze the link between polyandry and land ownership in Kinnaur and suggest that declining polyandry is contributing to land partitioning and consequently changing patterns of land tenure. This process is further exacerbated by climate change. Smaller landholdings and the associated increase in the number of independent households may have significant long-term economic consequences. Shifting marital customs reflect wider social transitions, largely driven by increased exposure to the broader market and modernization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many traditional pastoralist systems are greatly impacted by cumulative encroachments of other land users and by climate change. Understanding land degradation and the adaptive capacity of people who are dependent on the rangelands is an urgent priority for many areas in the world. In this research we explore how changing environmental conditions affect herding strategies on winter pastures and the role of indigenous and local traditional knowledge (ILK) in Sami reindeer husbandry. Our results indicate that traditional Sami reindeer herding strategies are still practiced, but that rapidly changing environmental circumstances are forcing herders into uncharted territories where these traditional strategies and the transmission of knowledge between generations may be of limited use. For example, rotational grazing is no longer possible as all pastures are being used, and changes in climate result in unpredictable weather patterns unknown to earlier generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

California's remote Anza-Borrego Desert, like other desert landscapes across the southwest of the United States, is valued by scientists, resource managers, and tourists alike for its perceived exceptional extremity. We analyze how climate extremes shape biological, socioeconomic, and cultural life through one of the desert's most iconic ecological events: spring wildflower superblooms. Quantitative data relating wildflower superblooms and tourist visitation to interannual climate variation are at the center of our analysis, with additional literature review and qualitative ethnographic data used to lend context and engage deeply with the significance of the quantitative findings for local communities. Monthly visitation rates tracked precipitation, peaking during the end of the winter growing season when wildflowers reach peak bloom. Visitation more than doubled during the wettest years, corresponding to wildflower abundance and superbloom media coverage. Wildflower superblooms and extreme environmental events are socially and culturally significant in the desert communities. They loom large in memory, shape regular seasonal activities and attachment to place, and feature in local conflicts over resource management and planning for sustainable futures. Overall, we demonstrate how gateway communities contend with the desert's ephemeral nature, and how climate change creates new and different extremes in these iconic desert landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River systems globally are experiencing social-ecological changes that often impact Indigenous fishing practices, including climate change and resource developments. We explore the relationship between access to fish and well-being, and the determinants of access to fish amidst changing social-ecological conditions through interviews with 29 individuals across four Gwich'in First Nation communities in Canada's Northwest Territories. Our interviews show that socioeconomic and environmental barriers are making it harder to access fish and that this has negative implications for well-being. Despite these barriers, access to fish continues to make positive, diverse contributions to well-being in Gwich'in communities through socioeconomic factors such as sharing networks and adaptive practices that are often part of ecological monitoring and land-based education and facilitate access to fish. Increasing our understanding of the relationship between access to fish and well-being, and determinants of access to fish, can contribute to land-based programs, land-use planning, and decision-making in Gwich'in territory and other river systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Berry-producing plants are a key subsistence resource in Indigenous Alaskan communities. Coastal, high-latitude regions are particularly impacted by global climate change because their location at the land-sea ecotone subjects them to both terrestrial stressors and shifting ocean dynamics. Although changes in near-shore vegetation communities have been previously documented for the sub-Arctic coastal region of Alaska, we know little about vegetation dynamics in the permafrost-underlain portions of the landscape that support berry communities. To fill this gap, surveys were administered in four communities within the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta to identify observations of changes in berry resources and integrate Indigenous Knowledge of drivers of changes with climate projections. We found that while many participants identified changes in berry phenology, abundance, and habitat related to climate drivers, important differences in responses were identified at the community level. Regional consensus can be used in combination with climate projections to forecast potential future impacts to berry resources, while distinctions at the community level can help to account for impacts of local scale disturbances and importance of social context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mangroves provide multiple valuable environmental services, including their high potential for the sequestration of blue carbon. However, mangrove conservation is socially demanding. Through a spatiotemporal analysis of the inhabitants of this dynamic coastal ecosystem in Mexico, we found that the numbers of small settlements within mangroves increased during the study period despite a decline in mangrove stands and in the human populations inhabiting them. Extended rural developments have been banished to external buffer areas, whereas near-subsistence hamlets are increasingly occupying mangrove forest. The ability of mangroves to sequester atmospheric blue carbon relies on regional socioeconomic patterns and stressors that should be considered in the development of mangrove conservation initiatives. Our study enables identification of potential areas of research — e.g., forestry buffer zones, social exclusion, permanent settlements, and integral monitoring — that can incorporate the social dimensions of blue carbon conservation into the political and research agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small-scale fisheries face similar challenges and constraints, including marginalization, spatial competition, unequal power relations, limited participation in decision-making processes, and climate stressors. We compare the vulnerability of small-scale fishing communities under pressure from climate change in the southern Cape in South Africa and the South Brazil Bight in Brazil using a standardized vulnerability framework to identify the differences and/or similarities between the fishing communities in both countries. In Brazil, high dependence on fishing and attachment to place increased the vulnerability of the fishers; in contrast, in South Africa strong dependence on markets to buy food threatened food security of the fishers. These findings provide noteworthy insights into the regional vulnerability of fishing communities in both countries; additionally, the results support the development of local climate change mitigation plans and provide examples for similar communities that are likely to experience climate stressors in other regional locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional food is central to Inuit culture and sense of identity. Recent changes in lifestyle, climate, and animal populations have influenced how people practice and experience activities on the land. We summarize the findings of 191 new and archived interviews addressing the continued relationships of Inuit to berries in the Canadian territories of Nunavut, Nunavik, and Nunatsiavut. Berry plants have been and remain widely used throughout the study area. Berry picking is an important cultural activity that contributes to spiritual, personal, and community wellbeing. In some regions, the availability of berries and accessibility to berry patches are threatened by climate change, recent increases in goose populations, as well as community development. Study outcomes suggest that berry picking should be considered in land-use planning since, alongside hunting and fishing, it is an activity that contributes to physical and mental health while being an important cultural practice across Inuit territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing evidence to suggest that arctic cultures and ecosystems have followed non-linear responses to climate change. Norse Scandinavian farmers introduced agriculture to sub-arctic Greenland in the late tenth century, creating synanthropic landscapes and utilising seasonally abundant marine and terrestrial resources. Using a niche-construction framework and data from recent survey work, studies of diet, and regional-scale climate proxies we examine the potential mismatch between this imported agricultural niche and the constraints of the environment from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries. We argue that landscape modification conformed the Norse to a Scandinavian style of agriculture throughout settlement, structuring and limiting the efficacy of seasonal hunting strategies. Recent climate data provide evidence of sustained cooling from the mid thirteenth century and climate variation from the early fifteenth century. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Norse made incremental adjustments to the changing sub-arctic environment, but were limited by cultural adaptations made in past environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]