Editing IPCC:AR6/SR15/Chapter-4 (section)

== Box 4.3 Indigenous Knowledge and Community Adaptation ==

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Indigenous knowledge refers to the understandings, skills and philosophies developed by societies with long histories of interaction with their natural surroundings (UNESCO, 2017) <sup>[[#fn:r980|980]]</sup> . This knowledge can underpin the development of adaptation and mitigation strategies (Ford et al., 2014b; Green and Minchin, 2014; Pearce et al., 2015; Savo et al., 2016) <sup>[[#fn:r981|981]]</sup> .

Climate change is an important concern for the Maya, who depend on climate knowledge for their livelihood. In Guatemala, the collaboration between the Mayan K’iché population of the Nahualate river basin and the Climate Change Institute has resulted in a catalogue of indigenous knowledge, used to identify indicators for watershed meteorological forecasts (López and Álvarez, 2016) <sup>[[#fn:r982|982]]</sup> . These indicators are relevant but would need continuous assessment if their continued reliability is to be confirmed (Nyong et al., 2007; Alexander et al., 2011; Mistry and Berardi, 2016) <sup>[[#fn:r983|983]]</sup> . For more than ten years, Guatemala has maintained an ‘Indigenous Table for Climate Change’, to enable the consideration of indigenous knowledge in disaster management and adaptation development.

In Tanzania, increased variability of rainfall is challenging indigenous and local communities (Mahoo et al., 2015; Sewando et al., 2016) <sup>[[#fn:r984|984]]</sup> . The majority of agro-pastoralists use indigenous knowledge to forecast seasonal rainfall, relying on observations of plant phenology, bird, animal, and insect behaviour, the sun and moon, and wind (Chang’a et al., 2010; Elia et al., 2014; Shaffer, 2014) <sup>[[#fn:r985|985]]</sup> . Increased climate variability has raised concerns about the reliability of these indicators (Shaffer, 2014) <sup>[[#fn:r986|986]]</sup> ; therefore, initiatives have focused on the co-production of knowledge by involving local communities in monitoring and discussing the implications of indigenous knowledge and meteorological forecasts (Shaffer, 2014) <sup>[[#fn:r987|987]]</sup> , and creating local forecasts by utilizing the two sources of knowledge (Mahoo et al., 2013) <sup>[[#fn:r988|988]]</sup> . This has resulted in increased documentation of indigenous knowledge, understanding of relevant climate information amongst stakeholders, and adaptive capacity at the community level (Mahoo et al., 2013, 2015; Shaffer, 2014) <sup>[[#fn:r989|989]]</sup> .

The Pacific Islands and small island developing states (SIDS) are vulnerable to the effects of climate change, but the cultural resilience of Pacific Island inhabitants is also recognized (Nunn et al., 2017) <sup>[[#fn:r990|990]]</sup> . In Fiji and Vanuatu, strategies used to prepare for cyclones include building reserve emergency supplies and utilizing farming techniques to ensure adequate crop yield to combat potential losses from a cyclone or drought (McNamara and Prasad, 2014; Granderson, 2017; Pearce et al., 2017) <sup>[[#fn:r991|991]]</sup> . Social cohesion and kinship are important in responding and preparing for climate-related hazards, including the role of resource sharing, communal labour, and remittances (McMillen et al., 2014; Gawith et al., 2016; Granderson, 2017) <sup>[[#fn:r992|992]]</sup> . There is a concern that indigenous knowledge will weaken, a process driven by westernization and disruptions in established bioclimatic indicators and traditional planning calendars (Granderson, 2017) <sup>[[#fn:r993|993]]</sup> . In some urban settlements, it has been noted that cultural practices (e.g., prioritizing the quantity of food over the quality of food) can lower food security through dispersing limited resources and by encouraging the consumption of cheap but nutrient-poor foods (Mccubbin et al., 2017) <sup>[[#fn:r994|994]]</sup> (See Cross-Chapter Box 6 on Food Security in Chapter 3). Indigenous practices also encounter limitations, particularly in relation to sea level rise (Nunn et al., 2017) <sup>[[#fn:r995|995]]</sup> .

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