Junqueira André Braga, Fernández-Llamazares Álvaro, Torrents-Ticó Miquel, Hara Paul Lokono, Naasak Job Guol, Burgas Daniel, Fraixedas Sara, Cabeza Mar, Reyes-García Victoria
Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Building Z Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola), Barcelona, Spain.
Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland.
J Ethnobiol. 2021 Oct 8;41(3):331-348. doi: 10.2993/0278-0771-41.3.331.
The fast and widespread environmental changes that have intensified in the last decades are bringing disproportionate impacts to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. Changes that affect water resources are particularly relevant for subsistence-based peoples, many of whom already suffer from constraints regarding reliable access to safe water. Particularly in areas where water is scarce, climate change is expected to amplify existing stresses in water availability, which are also exacerbated by multiple socioeconomic drivers. In this paper, we look into the local perceptions of environmental change expressed by the Daasanach people of northern Kenya, where the impacts of climate change overlap with those brought by large infrastructure projects recently established in the Omo River. We show that the Daasanach have rich and detailed understanding of changes in their environment, especially in relation to water resources. Daasanach understand observations of change in different elements of the social-ecological system as an outcome of complex interactions between climatic and non-climatic drivers of change. Our findings highlight the perceived synergistic effects of climate change and infrastructure projects in water resources, driving multiple and cascading impacts on biophysical elements and local livelihoods. Our results also demonstrate the potential of Local Ecological Knowledge in enhancing the understanding of complex social-ecological issues, such as the impacts of environmental change in local communities. To minimize and mitigate the social-ecological impacts of development projects, it is essential to consider potential synergies between climatic and socioeconomic factors and to ensure inclusive governance rooted in local understandings of environmental change.
在过去几十年里加速且广泛的环境变化，正给原住民和当地社区带来不成比例的影响。影响水资源的变化对以自给自足为生的人群尤为重要，其中许多人在可靠获取安全用水方面已经面临限制。特别是在水资源稀缺的地区，气候变化预计会加剧现有的水资源压力，多种社会经济驱动因素也会使其恶化。在本文中，我们研究了肯尼亚北部达萨纳奇人对环境变化的当地认知，在那里气候变化的影响与奥莫河近期新建的大型基础设施项目所带来的影响相互重叠。我们表明，达萨纳奇人对其环境变化有着丰富而详细的理解，尤其是与水资源相关的方面。达萨纳奇人将社会生态系统不同要素变化的观察结果理解为气候和非气候驱动因素之间复杂相互作用的结果。我们的研究结果突出了气候变化和基础设施项目在水资源方面的协同效应，对生物物理要素和当地生计产生多重和级联影响。我们的结果还证明了地方生态知识在增强对复杂社会生态问题理解方面的潜力，比如当地社区环境变化的影响。为了尽量减少和减轻发展项目的社会生态影响，必须考虑气候和社会经济因素之间的潜在协同效应，并确保基于当地对环境变化理解的包容性治理。
