Adaptation “from below” to changes in species distribution, habitat and climate in agro-ecosystems in the Terai Plains of Nepal

Abstract

Recent land-use and climatic shifts are expected to alter species distributions, the provisioning of ecosystem services, and livelihoods of biodiversity-dependent societies living in multifunctional landscapes. However, to date, few studies have integrated social and ecological evidence to understand how humans perceive change, and adapt agro-ecological practices at the landscape scale. Mixed method fieldwork compared observed changes in plant species distribution across a climatic gradient to farmers’ perceptions in biodiversity and climate change in rice-cultivated farms. In contrast to the global context, farmers in the Terai Plains of Nepal are acutely aware of high levels of change observed in the last 10 years, and incrementally adapt as new invasive species emerge (93%), the incidence and severity of pest/diseases increase (66%), genetic diversity of indigenous varieties erodes (65%), forest habitats diminish (98%), irrigation water declines (60%), and wildlife ranges shift. Twenty-five changes in climate were reported by 97.5% of farmers to reduce provisioning services and food self-sufficiency, and increase exposure to waterborne pathogens, heat stress, and human or livestock mortality. The study illustrates the need for financial and institutional supports at all levels to strengthen agro-ecological practices, upscale Information Communication Technology for extension services, clarify tenure agreements, and safeguard natural ecosystems to slow biodiversity loss. Existing incentives to conserve, restore, or sustainably manage ecosystems offer lessons for other societies undergoing rapid change.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-019-01202-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Integrating Insights from Social-Ecological Interactions into Sustainable Land Use Change Scenarios for Small Islands in the Western Indian Ocean

“…Adaptive actions need to address livelihood, food, water and energy demands that are context specific. With this in mind, local knowledge and practice should be considered as the foundation cornerstone for conversations on environmental sustainability and should inform adaptation responses [54,69]. Whilst it is widely agreed that successful adaptation is contextually dependent, few studies empirically explore how people perceive and respond to environmental change in specific cultural contexts [54,70].…”

“…With this in mind, local knowledge and practice should be considered as the foundation cornerstone for conversations on environmental sustainability and should inform adaptation responses [54,69]. Whilst it is widely agreed that successful adaptation is contextually dependent, few studies empirically explore how people perceive and respond to environmental change in specific cultural contexts [54,70]. As environmental change reshapes social-ecological relationships, more attention needs to be paid to the sustainability of response strategies adopted to adapt to such change.…”

“…In response to this need, recent studies have advocated for a multiscale participatory approach to development discourses [45,48,49]. Many researchers also discuss the importance of capturing and exploring local people's experiences and expectations when exploring climate change adaptation [50][51][52][53][54].…”

Introduction: Autochthonous human adaptation to biodiversity change in the Anthropocene

“…In Costa Rica, the impacts of invasive pathogens forced responses that were also shaped by changing commercial opportunities for major crops, the knowledge and agrobiodiversity that Indigenous People held, as well as the knowledge and genetic diversity that outsiders shared (Rodríguez Valencia et al 2019). In Nepal, rice farmers adapted to numerous climate change drivers that influenced changes in pest and disease incidence, phenology and length of growing seasons and water availability, but these were compounded by other changes in biodiversity related with pollution, overharvesting and the introduction of hybrid varieties, some of which were triggered by government intervention and some by adaptation (Thorn 2019). In India, the primary recent driver of biodiversity change affecting forest resources and agriculture, as well as well as the people who manage and depend upon these, was the invasion of the flowering plant Lantana camara (Thornton et al 2019), one of the world's '100 worst invasive species.'…”

“…Thus, in her case study on adaptation to biodiversity change in the Terai region of Nepal, Thorn notes that people ''often adapt in ways that are unaided by external agencies, nor necessarily reflected in formal policies…The existing literature has primarily focused on adaptation strategies that can be implemented on a large-scale in developed countries'' (Thorn 2019). When addressing adaptation to Lantana camara invasion in southern India, Thornton et al similarly argue that ''autochthonous adaptation processes either go unrecognized or are actively undermined as a consequence of colonialism, development, state-formation, and globalization'' (Thornton et al 2019).…”