Resumen de Indicadors de canvi climático.Una perspectiva local
This thesis contributes to the growing research field of climate change and indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) by answering the call for the exploration of ground data sources that will help fill current gaps in our understanding of climate change impacts at the local level. Specifically, in this thesis, I have analyzed local climate change impacts perceived by rural communities of a mountain area (Sierra Nevada, Spain). I have also used inputs from local knowledge to analyze interactions and cascading effects between different climate change impacts and the capacity of rural communities to differentiate impacts derived from climate and other drivers of change.
Results from my Ph.D. work are organized into three chapters. My first empirical chapter addresses the relevance of ILK in research on climate change impacts. I found that, while climate change researchers considered necessary to continue collecting local level data to understand impacts on climatic, physical, biological and human elements, they suggested that ILK could contribute mainly to the understanding of impacts on the biological and human systems. However, results of the literature review show that researchers have mostly focused on climate change impacts on elements of the climatic and physical systems. In other words, my research suggests that there is a mismatch between the contributions that climate change researchers expect from ILK and the actual focus of the research being conducted by researchers working with indigenous peoples and local communities.
The second empirical chapter uses a classification of local indicators of climate change impacts (LICCI) to organize observations of environmental impacts collected among inhabitants of rural communities of Sierra Nevada (Spain). In particular, I collected local perceptions of climate change impacts perceived by people with a historical relation with the environment and examined how such perceptions varied across geographical settings and sociodemographic factors. 80% of respondents reported changes in more than one third of the indicators, with an average of 52 indicators perceived by each respondent. I also found differences in perception across the different geographical zones of the study region, and across informants’ sociodemographic characteristics, including personal and familiar permanence to the region and level of interaction with nature.
The final empirical chapter provides a deeper analysis of the local communities’ views of environmental changes through network analysis among climate change and other drivers of change. Results of the networks analysis of climate change impacts perceived show that impacts in elements of the climatic and physical systems are perceived by local communities as the most damaging for their livelihoods. But climate change impacts in some biological and human components were perceived as key elements of the network due to their repercussion in other elements through cascading impacts. Respondents perceived climate change as a main driver of change acting in the region, although they identified eight other direct and indirect drivers generating environmental changes in the region, often adding to climate change pressures. Respondents identified the human system and then the climatic system as the most affected by the combined effects of the different drivers of change.
This thesis contributes to bridging western science and ILK within the framework of climate change. Results suggest that ILK should be considered as an independent and valid source of knowledge with its own framework. ILK could complete deficient scientific data records at local level, particularly regarding impacts on the biological and human systems. Moreover, results of the thesis show geographical differences within the region regarding climate change impacts, supporting the idea to develop evaluation and adaptation plans at local levels to avoid future inequities due to unevenly distributed impacts.
