2015 was the 3rd hottest year on record, and 2016 promises to keep up with this hot trend. On April 22nd, 175 parties (175 countries and the European Union) signed the Paris Agreement. IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (2013) notes that the “warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased”.
Climate change is real. Climate change will certainly impact our everyday life, if it already isn’t doing it. While in big cities and developed countries we have the tools, mechanisms and funds to combat climate change effects to some extent, less developed countries and remote communities are hit harder. How will they cope with climate change impacts? How can they become more resilient?
Many traditional communities around the globe still have a powerful tool that is being recognized, to some extent, as a main ingredient in creating climate change resilience: traditional knowledge. It is a key part of the solution to addressing climate change impacts and traditional and indigenous communities are now recognized as key partners in seeking solutions to a global problem. Including traditional knowledge in projects that focus on building climate change resilience means also building sustainability of our environment and communities.
Traditional communities have always planned their lives according to changes in weather patterns and their environment. Fishing, fruit picking, hunting of certain animals, planting – all are well timed according to the local climate and weather. Because of this, traditional communities were among the first to notice changes in weather patterns. They were also the first affected by these changes.
Because of their flexibility, some communities are already increasing their resilience by changing their planting or hunting schedules, looking for technologies (accessing underground water where water became scarce), diversifying their crops, changing supply storage methods or even moving to a different area.
Two important notions in studying resilience are vulnerability and adaptive capacity.
Vulnerability is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude, and rate of climate change and variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity and its adaptive capacity (IPCC).
Adaptive capacity is the ability of a system to adjust to climate change (including climate variability and extremes) to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences (IPCC)
These communities and their environment are vulnerable to climate change impacts. The Building Climate Change Resilient Communities course looks at how to determine the adaptive capacity of a community and their environment to cope with climate change impacts. It is very important to understand that all things are connected: climate change resilience means also building sustainability of our environment and communities.