ABSTRACT

Though Andean indigenous communities have a lengthy history of capable responding to water threats, anthropogenic climate change and soaring water demand have changed preterit water challenges into serious hazards. Using an ethnographic approach, this study examines how a Peruvian indigenous pastoralist community perceived and responded to climate-change induced water threats with the goal of understanding the mechanisms that enable such responses. Pastoralists report that alterations in water availability diminish the size and quality of wetlands and pastures, thus decreasing fodder for their livestock. Their primary adaptive responses are the creation of wetlands and the movement of livestock. A set of nested dynamic and flexible institutions enable households and supra-household units to carry out adaptive responses by facilitating access to alternate grazing areas and the labour force necessary to reshape the landscape. Institutions and local knowledge supporting the responses are open to exogenous information which generates opportunities for collaboration and innovation in the face of water hazards which in turn foments the resilience of indigenous pastoral social-ecological systems. This study reveals how indigenous knowledge and institutions contain strategies for adaptation to water stress that may be scaled up and replicated in national and sub-national programs.

摘要

尽管安第斯土著社区在应对水威胁方面有着悠久的历史，但人为气候变化和飙升的水需求已将过去的水挑战变成了严重的危害。本研究使用人种学方法研究秘鲁土著牧民社区如何看待和应对气候变化引起的水威胁，目的是了解实现此类响应的机制。牧民报告说，可用水量的变化会降低湿地和牧场的面积和质量，从而减少牲畜的饲料。他们的主要适应性反应是创造湿地和牲畜的移动。一套嵌套的动态和灵活的制度使家庭和超家庭单位能够通过促进进入替代放牧区和重塑景观所需的劳动力来进行适应性反应。支持应对措施的机构和当地知识对外部信息持开放态度，这为面临水灾时的合作和创新创造了机会，进而增强了土著牧区社会生态系统的复原力。这项研究揭示了土著知识和机构如何包含适应水资源压力的战略，这些战略可以在国家和次国家计划中扩大和复制。支持应对措施的机构和当地知识对外部信息持开放态度，这为面临水灾时的合作和创新创造了机会，进而增强了土著牧区社会生态系统的复原力。这项研究揭示了土著知识和机构如何包含适应水资源压力的战略，这些战略可以在国家和次国家计划中扩大和复制。支持应对措施的机构和当地知识对外部信息持开放态度，这为面临水灾时的合作和创新创造了机会，进而增强了土著牧区社会生态系统的复原力。这项研究揭示了土著知识和机构如何包含适应水资源压力的战略，这些战略可以在国家和次国家计划中扩大和复制。