Guide on Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples

Central and Eastern Europe, RussianFederation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia• Indigenous peoples are actively trying to partner with the academiccommunity so that local groups can participate in field research projects,and their results be communicated to and among local communities.• They undertake education programs to improve public awareness ofthe issues that will go towards assisting the development of their ownattitudes and ethical norms around adaptation measures.North America• Indigenous peoples of North America are very positive that newmaterials and new ways of doing things form a common theme in thehistories of many Native peoples. Some are now taking advantage ofclimactic changes to do things they have not done in the past. Theychange food storage techniques and hunting and fishing grounds.• Some groups change species of animals and fishes they hunt.• In order to sustain their families and their domestic animals, the Inuitsfeed their reindeer grasses other than lichens during winter time.• In extreme cases, people look for relocation sites either for long term oras temporary measures.• For the future, they believe that adopting new technologies is likely tobe the only means for dealing with the disruptions to their traditionalsubsistence economies. 14Pacific• Traditional marine social institutions in the Ra’ui in Rarotonga, CookIslands serve as an effective conservation management tool and isimproving coral reef health.• Indigenous peoples’ ecological knowledge and customary sea tenureis also integrated with marine and social science to conserve thebumphead parrotfish in Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands.• Changes in sea tenure, back to more traditional roles, have also occurredin Kiribati. 15• In a coastal village on Vanua Levu, Fiji, the vanua (which refers tothe connection of people with the land through their ancestors andguardian spirits) serves as a guiding principle for the management andsustainable use of the rainforest, mangrove forest, coral reefs, andvillage gardens.• In other parts of the Pacific, indigenous peoples have built seawalls,provided a water drainage system and water tanks and banned treeclearing.PART IV: Adapting to Climate Change: Indigenous Peoples Show the Way 43