Limited room For manoeuvre - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 268

dimensions of climate change and culturally sensitive institutional support
from international development agencies, government offices and surrounding
society. However, strengthening indigenous peoples' local adaptive capacity
requires more than good practices and meteorological information. Numerous
cases have shown that, without secure rights to land and resources, and the
capacity to fulfil livelihood aspirations in the territories they inhabit, this
assistance will rarely suffice. A conscious approach to climate-change adaptation
and mitigation must include an understanding of how knowledge systems
have developed under different circumstances, and with different drivers and
processes.
In some cases, indigenous peoples have the relevant knowledge and socio-
cultural structures to respond to climate-change phenomena, but have been
restricted by other limiting factors - largely imposed through extractive industries
and government policies. In the Colombian Amazon case, the exercise of rights and
autonomy, and the practice of cultural livelihood strategies, have proven to be no
guarantee for successful adaptation. Likewise, in the case of Syrian Bedu herders
and Tunisian oasis managers, official development policies and failure to regulate
the market have resulted in increased pressure on environmental resources,
and has restricted local livelihood options and increased vulnerability. Some
indigenous peoples are compelled to change their livelihood so dramatically that
they lose vital conditions for the development and reproduction of their culture.
Indigenous knowledge, institutions and practices may be rendered superfluous,
lost or temporarily forgotten - thereby reducing the adaptive potential for these
communities, and perhaps for humanity in general.
A strengthening of current international efforts to protect indigenous peoples'
rights to land and natural resources is crucial. This includes models of collective
ownership, consultation and participation based on rights, and regulatory
frameworks such as ILO Convention 169. It will involve strengthening the
inclusion of representatives from indigenous peoples' organizations in national
and local climate-change adaptation initiatives. Participatory processes need to
be implemented at the design stage and followed through to the final project
evaluation. Adaptation measures should focus equally on processes and outcomes,
applying participatory strategies to build resilience, including the strengthening
of strategies and increased support to help indigenous communities adapt to
climate change and variability, acknowledging the diversity of their livelihood
strategies and the role and efficiency of their cultural institutions. This support
must be rooted in, or at a minimum must respect, the traditional knowledge of
indigenous peoples and the co-development of technology and technical advice
on agricultural practices that are culturally, environmentally and economically
appropriate.
This chapter has argued that indigenous peoples' ability to adapt to local
environmental changes resulting from global climate change is constrained
both by a changing set of parameters (rainfall, temperature, water and soil
quality, game availability) and also by pressures on social, political and economic