Indigenous communities have long been recognised as being particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to the close connection between their livelihoods, culture, spirituality and social systems and their environment. At the same time, however, this deep and long-established relationship with the natural environment affords many indigenous peoples with knowledge that they have long used to adapt to environmental change, and are now using to respond to the impacts of climate change.
The potential of indigenous knowledge for informing observations of, and responses to climate change is an area of growing interest. The United Nations University published a compendium, available online, which presents a wide-ranging overview of more than 400 projects, case studies and research activities specifically related to climate change and Indigenous Peoples (IP).
That publication, as well as other resources, can be found on the website of the Institute of Development Studies at University of Sussex (UK): Click here