The effect of cultural practices and perceptions on global climate change response among Indigenous peoples: a case study on the Tayal people in northern Taiwan

Abstract

Many Indigenous peoples are disproportionately affected by global climate change. Current research is focused on how Indigenous adaptation and mitigation strategies can be integrated into mainstream climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. Through a mixed-methods approach, this study explored the effects of culture and local perceptions on coping strategies and adaptations to climate change among Indigenous communities, of which knowledge is inadequate, with a specific focus on two Indigenous Tayal communities in northern Taiwan (N = 101). From our findings, we developed a typology based on a polychoric factor analysis, which includes four key aspects: commercialized response; experience and anticipation; culture, preparedness and recovery; and external support and institutions. The typology shows that cultural practices and perceptions profoundly shape how Indigenous households respond to climate-related disasters and should therefore be incorporated more comprehensively into climate change adaptation and mitigation policy. Our findings reflect a nuanced understanding of Indigenous peoples’ complicated relationship with global climate change. The proposed typology could be used as a theoretical and/or policy-oriented framework to advance an agenda for strengthening Indigenous livelihood resilience to global climate change.

Towards a cultural lens for adaptation pathways to climate change

“…On the contrary, as anthropologists have demonstrated, adaptive change is the key for cultural reproduction over time. For example, Indigenous Tayal smallholder farmers in Taiwan do not perceive typhoons as disasters but as a natural part of everyday life (Bayrak et al 2020). Environmental disasters are not thus necessarily "disconnected" from society.…”

“…Older adults, disabled groups, and youth often have different requirements, motivations, and abilities to participate in adaptation pathways. Smallholder farming, for example, is increasingly practiced by the elderly among Taiwan's Indigenous farmers as younger households are unable to cope with farming's hardships (Bayrak et al 2020). For individuals and households to benefit from the pathways, we need to also consider what capacities and capital they have accumulated over their life courses which they can employ to overcome negative impacts of climatic conditions.…”

Situating Indigenous Resilience: Climate Change and Tayal’s “Millet Ark” Action in Taiwan

“…Along these lines of thinking, our research aims to retrieve the value of Tayal community in Taiwan as a model of "locally sourced agrobiodiversity" in response to global climate crises. Recent work such as "The Effect of Cultural Practices and Perceptions on Global Climate Change Response Among Indigenous Peoples" by Bayrak et al examines how Tayal people have been affected by climate-related disasters and argues that their ways of responding to climate crisis should be incorporated comprehensively into global adaptation and mitigation policy in the face of climate change (see [9]). Nonetheless, little has been mentioned regarding the significance of the creation of a foodscape built on the relationship between indigenous people and the plants they cultivate for food.…”

Innovate or Perish: Food Policy Design in an Indigenous Context in a Post-Pandemic and Climate Adaptation Era

“…This dynamic of change not only affects the Latin American region but will spread throughout the world if our societies are not transformed [38]. The subjectivities with which indigenous peoples perceive their environment is a relevant element in the construction of their reproduction strategies [39], and in a globalized or delocalized world these subjectivities become more acute [40].…”