Understanding Multidirectional Climate Change Impacts on Local Livelihoods through the Lens of Local Ecological Knowledge: A Study in Western Amazonia

Abstract

Climate-related changes taking place in Amazonia substantially impact social-ecological systems, affecting local livelihoods strongly reliant on natural resources. Here, we investigate climate change impacts on different livelihood activities in western Amazonia, through the lens of local ecological knowledge. We conducted semi-structured interviews and surveys with ∼400 residents from 24 communities spread across a ∼600 km stretch of the Juruá River. Residents reported a vast set of changes, many referring to changes in the atmospheric system (e.g., more summer rainfall), but with cascading effects in physical, biological, and human systems. Different livelihood activities are impacted with different intensities and by different climate-related changes. While most changes have negative impacts, residents recognize some positive impacts of climate-driven changes (e.g., large river floods positively impact fishing). Beyond demonstrating the manifold and multidirectional climate change impacts, our findings highlight the contribution of local ecological knowledge in identifying vulnerable livelihood activities and biodiversity-based value chains.

Keywords:

• Climate change
• local communities
• local ecological knowledge
• local perceptions
• social-ecological systems

Acknowledgments

This work was carried out in partnership with the LICCI Project (Local Indicators of Impacts of Climate Change; https://licci.eu). Finally, we thank the riverine communities of the Juruá River for their receptivity and acceptance to participate in this research. We hope that this work can generate positive effects for these communities abundant in wisdom.

Notes

1 In this manuscript we use the term “reports” when referring to specific changes observed/experienced/reported by local people, but it is important to mention that these reports are based (and are part of) LEK (see e.g., Yeh 2016).

Additional information

Funding

Research leading to this paper has received funding from the European Research Council under an ERC Consolidator Grant (FP7-771056-LICCI). J.V.C.-S. acknowledges his postdoc position (grant no. 295650) funded by Belmont Forum and BiodivERsA joint call for research proposals, under the BiodivScen ERA-Net COFUND programme, and with the funding organizations French National Research Agency (ANR), São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), National Science Foundation (NSF), the Research Council of Norway, and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). We thank the SITAWI Finanças do bem and Território Medio Juruá, which also provided funding for this research.