LITERATURE REVIEW

The relationship between indigenous communities and the natural resources of the land lies
beyond their economic background but has a deep root to their culture and heritage. Although
indigenous people account for 5 percent of the world’s population and they care for 22
percent of the Earth’s surface and 80 percent of the planet’s remaining biodiversity.
The indigenous resilience addresses the ability of these communities to examine the impacts
and develop strategies for addressing and adapting to climate change. The resilience is
embedded in traditional knowledges, diverse livelihoods, cultural values and social context of
these communities.

According to the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), only a few governments include
indigenous land and forest management as part as their climate strategies submitted to the
United Nations.
The protection of traditional knowledge and land-water management have been central to
international Climate- change mitigation programs like United Nation’s REDD+ (Reducing
Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).

The nomadic pastoralists, Qashqai in Islamic Republic of Iran have employed early warning
systems to enable them to predict droughts and take preventive measures. The sustainable
hunting practices and use of non-timber products forms their bias of their economy. Their
climate adaptative measures include maintenance of springs, waterholes for their livestock.
Co-management arrangement in fisheries in Canada and Philippines works with indigenous
people, and their local and ecological knowledge.
Traditional forest management by ethnic women in Vietnam includes agricultural and
household related activities and engaging in collection of firewood and non-timber products.
The Karuk Tribe is working to employ traditional land management strategies by promoting
knowledge sovereignty, tribal self-determination, and tribal self-governance.
In Sikkim, communities have equipped themselves with traditional ecological knowledge to
deal with unseasonal floods, they have tested techniques including riverbank retaining walls,
terracing, bio stabilization of slopes using rocks and native plants to counter the effects of
floods. These methods are also used to reduce damage from landslides, rock falls and
mudflows. These techniques have helped them evolve into fine cultural and social systems to
cope the natural disasters.
Lachen valley located in Eastern Himalayan region is inhabited by two indigenous
communities – Lachenpas and Dokpas. They are both directly dependent on the surrounding
biodiversity for livestock grazing and collection of medicinal, aromatic and edible plants.
Lachenpas, transhumance community move to higher attitude in summers and lower in
winters and Dokpas, yak-herders do the reserve, moving to higher attitudes in winters to the
wind-blown, snow-free pastures.
Pastoralists believe that the poor quality of grass has resulted in the decline of sheep, sheep
being the weaker of their main livestock thus yak became Dokpas main pastoral. They began
to select the crops along an altitudinal gradient to be grown at different villages.
There is an interlinkage between traditional knowledge and genetic resources in adaptation to
climate variability in China, Bolivia and Kenya. Traditional techniques include maize as a
drought and wind-resistant crop in South-west China and potato as pest-resistant crop in
Bolivia and maize as weather and pest-resistant crop in coastal Kenya. All these three case
studies, show that the modern technologies in these regions are failing and traditional farmer
techniques are cheap yet effective and the support for these initiatives like local landrace
conservation, local seed production, seed fairs and community-based conservation and
adaptation should be encouraged.

“Adaptation is a dynamic social process” as quoted by Adam and Brown (2009). Indigenous
communities use social mechanism and their own local governance to ensure resource access
to all. Thus, the role of social and cultural institutions which bids the community and thus
helps in the resilience against environmental change.
The diversification of livelihoods is a strategy to enhance productivity in context of
environmental uncertainty. Multi-activity and seasonal shift in livelihood or farming
techniques improves social structure. Pastoralists have a symbolic relation with their
livestock. Thus, these climate challenges are amplified and can be resolved by local
knowledge itself.
Seasonal shift in cropping calendar and fishing calendar helps to maintain the quality and
quantity of produce. Cross-scale cultural and economic knowledge exchange approach will
help indigenous communities. Holistic approach integrates social and cultural practices of
indigenous communities to produce solutions of climate change.
Local forms of social organization can be formed associated with settlement and livelihood
patterns.
Architecture has played a role in understanding the local techniques and bridging
communities and tackling the problem of climate change.
Chagga community in Tanzania, has used the rich biodiversity of Mount Kilimanjaro to make
it into a livelihood of Kilhamba forest of banana trees, coffee and millet for a rapid growing
population. Kayapo in Amazon Basin have used fire to replenish the soil and prevent it from
deforestation, and thus use the soil to cultivate better crops. Persians have developed qanats,
underground aqueducts to use as natural foils into energy- intensive wells. These qanats
redistribute the water from mountain acquires to farmer’s field and low-lying cities.
Khasi in Meghalaya, have trained rubber fig trees to grow across rivers to act as bridges
across rivers, ladders above plains and now they can withstand heavy rains and monsoon.
Subak rice terraces in Bali have utilized a system to transform volcanic landscape into terrace
farming for agriculture. The co-management within farmers for the shared sources of
tunnels, channels and plantation schedules has helped them get a good produce.
Tofinu tribe in Benin, Africa has built bamboo and teak stilted houses surrounded by artificial
reefs of fish which is their main livelihood.
Dried qasab reed are used to make columns, ropes, mats for floors in Mecca as reed is the
only building material. Bundled reeds have been used to build a building with arches in
Mecca.
Uros in Peru have incorporated the style of living on floating island built with totora reeds.
Each island has multiple thatched houses and these are anchored with rocks and rope and can
be moved accordingly. Today there are more than 91floating islands and they use totora reeds
for making boats, blankets and medicine as well.
In southern wetlands of Iraq, Ma’dan also use the concept of natural free-floating islands
using locally harvested qasab reeds, entire villages are built without wood, nails or glass.

While the world and environment are in a state of constant unrest, the loss or disregard of
indigenous ecological knowledge is a problem affecting everyone. Understanding the relation
between these people and their traditional territories of lands and waters is a vital step
towards reconciliation, support and growth. While climate scientists have started working
side by side with indigenous communities to come up with innovative climate change
solutions and revitalize and protect indigenous landscapes so this can help architects to
expand their practices by incorporating knowledge sourced by their ancestors of ecological
knowledge and sustainability.

REFERENCES
1. Indigenous peoples and Climate change From victims to change agents through
decent work , International Labour Office, Geneva
2. Climate Change and Indigenous People by Tenzing Ingty and K.S Bawa
3. Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples: A Synthesis of Current Impacts and
Experiences , United States Department of Agriculture, October 2016
4. Weathering Uncertainty Traditional knowledge for climate change assessment and
adaptation
5. Climate Change What challenges for the South? IRD Editions
6. Lo-TEK Design by Radical Indigenism