Editing IPCC:AR6/SROCC/Chapter-4 (section)

===== 4.3.2.4.2 Loss of indigenous knowledge and local knowledge =====

Despite the identification of this issue in AR4, its treatment in AR5 remained limited. Recent literature partly focussing on SLR reaffirms that indigenous knowledge and local knowledge (IK and LK; Cross-Chapter Box 4 in Chapter 1 and Glossary) are key to determining how people recognise and respond to environmental risk (Bridges and McClatchey, 2009 <sup>[[#fn:r1097|1097]]</sup> ; Lefale, 2010 <sup>[[#fn:r1098|1098]]</sup> ; Leonard et al., 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r1099|1099]]</sup> ; Lazrus, 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r1100|1100]]</sup> ), and therefore to increasing adaptive capacity and reducing long-term vulnerability (Ignatowski and Rosales, 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r1101|1101]]</sup> ; McMillen et al., 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r1102|1102]]</sup> ; Hesed and Paolisso, 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r1103|1103]]</sup> ; Janif et al., 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r1104|1104]]</sup> ; Morrison, 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r1105|1105]]</sup> ).

IK and LK contribute both as a foundation for and an outcome of customary resource management systems aimed at regulating resource use and securing critical ecosystem protection (examples in Indonesia; Hiwasaki et al., 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r1106|1106]]</sup> ), structuring the relationship between people and authorities, and framing and maintaining a strong sense of place in the community (examples in Timor Leste; Hiwasaki et al., 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r1107|1107]]</sup> ). In turn, this allows local communities to predict and prepare for both sudden shock events that have historical precedent and, when IK and LK are embedded in day-to-day rituals and decision making processes, to also anticipate the consequences of gradual changes, as in sea level (examples in Indonesia; Hiwasaki et al., 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r1108|1108]]</sup> ). Customary resource management systems based on IK and elders’ leadership—for instance, Rahui in French Polynesia (Gharasian, 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r1109|1109]]</sup> ), or Mo in the Marshall Islands (Bridges and McClatchey, 2009)—also allow communities to diversify access to marine and terrestrial resources using seasonal calendars, to ensure collective food and water security, and to maintain ecological integrity (McMillen et al., 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r1111|1111]]</sup> ). In rural Pacific atolls, traditional food preservation and storage (e.g., storing germinated coconuts or drying fish) still play a role in anticipating disruptions in natural resource availability (Campbell, 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r1112|1112]]</sup> ; Lazrus, 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r1113|1113]]</sup> ). Such practices have enabled the survival of isolated communities from the Arctic to tropical islands in constraining sea environments for centuries to millennia (McMillen et al., 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r1114|1114]]</sup> ; Nunn et al., 2017a <sup>[[#fn:r1115|1115]]</sup> ). Morrison (2017) argues that IK and LK can also play a role in supporting internal migration in response to SLR, by avoiding social and cultural uprooting (Cross-Chapter Box 4 in Chapter 1).

In some specific contexts, climate change will also imply no-analogue changes, such as rapid ice-melt and changing conditions in the Arctic that have no precedent in the modern era, and could thus limit the relevance of IK and LK in efforts to address significantly different circumstances. Except in these specific situations, the literature suggests that the loss of IK and LK, and related social norms and mechanisms, will increase populations’ exposure and vulnerability to SLR impacts (Nakashima et al., 2012 <sup>[[#fn:r1117|1117]]</sup> ). The literature notably points out that modern, externally-driven socioeconomic dynamics, such as the introduction of imported food (noodles, rice, canned meat and fish, etc.), diminish the cultural importance of IK-based practices and diets locally, together with introducing dependency on monetisation and external markets (Hay, 2013; Campbell, 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r1118|1118]]</sup> ).

As a result, the loss of IK and LK may increase long-term vulnerability to SLR ( ''medium evidence, high agreement'' ). Given that IK and LK are largely based on observing and ‘making sense’ of the surrounding environment (moon, waves, winds, animal behaviours, topography, etc.), such a loss reflects a more general concern about the weakening of environmental connectedness in contemporary societies, which is not limited to remote, rural and developing communities ( ''medium confidence'' ). In developed contexts too, the loss of LK has played a critical role in recent coastal disasters (e.g., Katrina in 2005 in the USA, Kates et al., 2006) and increasing vulnerability to SLR (e.g., Newton and Weichselgartner, 2014; Wong et al., 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r1119|1119]]</sup> ).

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