Perception and Interpretation of Climate Change among Quechua Farmers of Bolivia: Indigenous Knowledge as a Resource for Adaptive Capacity

Abstract

ABSTRACT. We aim to explore how indigenous peoples observe and ascribe meaning to change. The case study involves two Quechua-speaking farmer communities from mountainous areas near Cochabamba, Bolivia. Taking climate change as a starting point, we found that, first, farmers often associate their observations of climate change with other social and environmental changes, such as value change in the community, population growth, out-migration, urbanization, and land degradation. Second, some of the people interpret change as part of a cycle, which includes a belief in the return of some characteristics of ancient or mythological times. Third, environmental change is also perceived as the expression of "extra-human intentionalities," a reaction of natural or spiritual entities that people consider living beings. On the basis of these interpretations of change and their adaptive strategies, we discuss the importance of indigenous knowledge as a component of adaptive capacity. Even in the context of living with modern science and mass media, indigenous patterns of interpreting phenomena tend to be persistent. Our results support the view that indigenous knowledge must be acknowledged as process, emphasizing ways of observing, discussing, and interpreting new information. In this case, indigenous knowledge can help address complex relationships between phenomena, and help design adaptation strategies based on experimentation and knowledge coproduction.

Climate change and crop diversity: farmers’ perceptions and adaptation on the Bolivian Altiplano

“…adjusting planting dates, changing crop composition, and improving soil and water management) are similar to those adopted by farmers in others parts of the Andean highlands and the world (e.g. Young and Lipton 2006;Bryan et al 2009;Deressa et al 2011;Habiba et al 2012;Boillat and Berkes 2013;Mijatović et al 2013;Le Dang et al 2014). Farmers' perceptions of crop responses to stresses linked to climate change are likewise in alignment with other studies.…”

“…We focused on farmers' perceptions because they inform their planting decisions and other actions that determine their resilience-ability to cope with, adapt to, and recover from shocks-into the future (Folke et al 2010). Several studies have documented Andean farmers' perceptions of climate change and their adaptation actions (Young and Lipton 2006;Valdivia et al 2010;McDowell and Hess 2012;Boillat and Berkes 2013;Lennox 2015), but few have focused on the responses of specific crop varieties to changing conditions and their current uses in adaptation. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, we assessed how farmers' use of crop diversity in adaptation is related to their perceptions of crop and variety tolerance, as well as other environmental, social, and economic factors.…”

Assessing and mapping cultural ecosystem services at community level in the Colombian Amazon

“…All communities use locations for all the categories of CES covered in the MEA scheme which demonstrates how their lives are strongly integrated with their natural surroundings ( Figure 5(b)); similar results are described by Boillat and Berkes (2013) who acknowledge the importance of indigenous knowledge and the need of finding new ways to observe, discuss and interpret this information.…”

Comparing peasants' perceptions of precipitation change with precipitation records in the tropical Callejón de Huaylas, Peru

“…Since the memories of individuals are limited in space and time they are not able to mirror the complete natural and societal processes. We understand this type of human knowledge as a subject of continuous iteration be-tween individual and collective perceptions, practices and beliefs, modified by specific socio-political and discursive dynamics (Boillat and Berkes, 2013;Orlove and Caton, 2010;Orlove et al, 2008;Zimmerer, 2010Zimmerer, , 2011. Accordingly, the derived information represents a snapshot of the broad and highly complex local knowledge about environment, society and history.…”