The Role of Traditional Knowledge and Crop Varieties in Adaptation to Climate

Change and Food Security in SW China, Bolivian Andes and coastal Kenya
Krystyna Swiderska, Hannah Reid, Yiching Song, Jingsong
Li, Doris Mutta, Paul Ongugo, Mohamed Pakia, Rolando Oros,
Sandra Barriga
Paper prepared for the UNU-IAS workshop on
Indigenous Peoples, Marginalised Populations and
Climate Change: Vulnerability, Adaptation and
Traditional Knowledge, Mexico, July 2011
Indigenous peoples and local communities often live
in harsh natural environments, and have had to
cope with extreme weather and adapt to
environmental change for centuries in order to
survive. They have done this using long standing
traditions and practices or traditional knowledge
(TK) relating to adaptive ecosystem management
and sustainable use of natural resources.
The three case studies presented provide evidence
of the crucial role of traditional crop varieties,
knowledge and practices in enabling adaption to
changes in climate. The question is whether the
climatic changes observed in these cases are
human induced climate change or just natural
changes. The findings show that indigenous farmers
in SW China, coastal Kenya and the Bolivian Andes
are already severely impacted by changes in
climate, including drought, with serious
consequences for crop production and food
security. The scale of the changes, and the fact
that they have occurred quite recently (in the last
10 or 20 years), suggests that they may be the
result of human induced climate change.
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G03338 IIED code:
Sep 2011 - IIED Published:
China, Bolivia, Kenya Areas:
Agriculture & Food, Climate
Change
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