To identify the indicators of adaptive capacity that determine vulnerability of households, an intensive investigation was conducted in farming communities at two locations in the Asian highlands. Livelihood vulnerability was assessed, classified to four categories and regressed against current adaptive capacity using logistic regression. Household head's education, irrigated land, non-agricultural income, and technologies used were associated with adaptive capacity. The strengthening of human, natural and financial capital is identified as the best means of managing risk in farming communities in this mountainous region. ARTICLE HISTORY

BackgroundThe ethnic groups in Gilgit-Baltistan have been utilizing local resources in their centuries-old traditional healing system. Most tribes within these ethnic groups still rely on traditional healing systems. We aim to understand the current status, uses, and abundance of medicinal plants, associated traditional knowledge, and trade.Materials and methodsThe study incorporated over 300 local community members (70% men and 30% women) in focused group discussions, semi-structured interviews, and homework assignments for 8th to 12th grade students to document traditional knowledge (TK) in six districts in Northeast Pakistan. We calculated various indices such as informant consensus factor, use value, relative frequency of citation, and CoKriging. These indices, along with repetitively used medicinal plants, were used to analyze differences in studied locations.ResultsMost of the community members still rely on traditional medication in the study areas. However, we found the highest number of medicinal plants used in Skardu and Gilgit compared to other districts and these two districts also represent trade centers and a highly populated area regarding medicinal plants. Results indicate connection amongst the surveyed villages signifying mixing of knowledge from different sources, with certain areas more influenced by traditional Chinese medicine and others more by Ayurveda and Unani.ConclusionTK is mostly retained with elder community members; however, those directly linked with market value chain retain rich knowledge on traditional use of the medicinal plants from the region. Major trade centers in the region also coincide with a high density of medicinal plant occurrence, knowledge, and higher utilization. Therefore, with the increasing trade in medicinal plant in the region, there is potential for rejuvenation of this knowledge and of plant use in the region.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13002-018-0281-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A seasonal calendar, based on traditional knowledge of ecological indicators, seasonal variations and associated activities, can provide a baseline for understanding the practices of indigenous along with climatic variation. This paper investigates the ethno-ecological knowledge of indigenous people in Taxkorgan regarding the use of ecological cues to conduct seasonal activities that harmonize with climatic variations. Meteorological data from the nearest station was used to understand climatic variations and develop indices. The results revealed that indigenous elders still adopt traditional methods to decide the time of various annual activities observing and using seasonal cues, such as the height and color of grass, the arriving of migratory birds and phenological observations. Moreover, same or diverse indicators were used at settlements located in different elevations. The analysis revealed that the region was recently getting warmer and wetter compared to previous decades, and local perceptions were matched with climatic recordings. Local inhabitants already practiced earlier plantation of crops (e.g., wheat) in recent years. Climatic indices calculated revealed and validated recent weather condition can support earlier plantation of crops. Hence, the strong forecasting system using meteorological evidence to support existing local knowledge on ecological indicators and adjust seasonal calendars can improve indigenous people’s abilities to cope with climate risks. Furthermore, this can support in developing adaptation schemes that respond to community needs. The approaches and findings can be used to facilitate the management of these natural resource based on the adaptive framework and to create data that can be tested in subsequent studies.

Healthcare workers in Pakistan are still fighting at the frontline to control the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and have been identified as the earliest beneficiaries for COVID-19 vaccination by the health authorities of the country. Besides, the high vaccination rates of frontline healthcare workers (FHWs) are essential to overcome the ongoing pandemic and reduce the vaccines hesitancy among the general population. The current research employed the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to investigate the COVID-19 vaccination behavior among FHWs in Pakistan as well as the predictors of such behavior. Following the epidemic control and prevention policies, a sample of 680 FHWs were accessed to fill in the questionnaire evaluating the components of the TPB. Moreover, the potential role of anticipated regret (AR) and perceived susceptibility (PS) on COVID-19 vaccination behavior was also assessed. The partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) results revealed that the TPB components, as well as the AR, have positive associations with the COVID-19 vaccination behavior. The results further confirmed that PS positively affects the anticipated regret, attitude (ATT), and subjective norm (SN) to vaccinate against SARS-CoV-2. The perceived susceptibility also has a positive association with COVID-19 vaccination behavior through the mediation of anticipated regret, ATT, and SN. Our findings highlighted the importance of COVID-19 vaccination among healthcare workers, which can be applied to reduce vaccine hesitancy among the general public.

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